


Danger Days

by YourChimera



Series: A Wasteland's Rose [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Angst, Dehumanization, Explicit Language, F/M, Gen, Gun Violence, Implied Sexual Content, Minor Character Death, Nightmares, Teen Pregnancy, Torture, Underage Drinking, Underage Sex, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-07-21 23:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7409557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourChimera/pseuds/YourChimera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose, a member of Little Lamplight, sets off one day with a group of other Little Lamplighters to gather supplies but ends up in the hands of the Enclave. There she unknowingly becomes the Enclave's newest experiment and child assassin.</p><p>Now escaped from Raven Rock moments before it blew up with the help of a new friend, she is sent to the Brotherhood of Steel by the Lone Wanderer in hopes that they can give her the best help. There she finds that military factions aren't always as evil as the Enclave had made her believe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Failure (2273)

**Author's Note:**

> “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”  
> – Winston Churchill

            The man could only stare at the scene before him in a vacant gaze; he had hoped they would have gotten it right this time. His jaw clenched slightly, the only telltale sign of his internal frustration, but he relaxed. He couldn’t show his subordinates that he was running out of time for them. Taking a deep breath, he turned towards the doctor that had been overseeing the whole thing. “Burn PV-10, it’s no use to us dead,” he declared before walking out of the small room they called the clinic.

            Every time he issued the hosts to be burned his hope would falter little by little each time. He had wanted to believe there was a way to prevent the fate of the abominations from becoming his people’s, but it seemed as if they were destined for it. Just the thought alone of becoming an abomination sent a shiver down his spine.

            Each of the hosts had been the weakest ones, the ones who never fought back – the easiest targets. “I’m going to go with you, Soldier,” he declared as he found himself approaching a group of soldiers. If he remembered correctly, this should be the patrol heading out further into the Capitol Wasteland.

            “S-sir?” the soldier stuttered before he coughed and corrected himself, “I mean we're honored to have you come with us, Colonel!” he saluted, which the other soldiers followed his suit. “I just have to ask why, Colonel?” he asked.

            His jaw clenched, and this time he didn’t care if he was caught doing so. “PV-10 has been terminated, the antidote did not settle well. It boiled inside out due to the Purifying Virus,” he explained, not worrying himself with formalities. He knew that by the time he got back, the vast majority of Raven Rock would have understood what had happened to it.

            “A-are you serious?” one of the other soldiers gasped, his eyes were wide and filled with disgust and horror.

           “I will be selecting the next host; I’m sick of getting unqualified hosts,” he growled as he grabbed a gun from the table behind the soldiers. “So, are we going? Or are we going to gossip?” he snarled, narrowing his eyes at them. He wasn’t in any mood for slacking off; the death of PV-10 had dampened his spirit for the day.

           “Yes, Colonel Autumn, you may lead,” the soldier who had been put in charge offered. Colonel Autumn gladly took from him and led the patrol out of Raven Rock.


	2. Chapter One: Abduction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “I know I’m not to blame for what he did. And I know, too, that I am strong inside – stronger than I ever realized.”  
> – Cheryl Rainfield, Stained

            Rose stared at the mayor of Little Lamplight, dark brows knitted together in skepticism. _Did he just suggest that?_ “W-wait a minute…” she meekly tried to stop this absurd suggestion from becoming a reality, but it appeared to be too late.

            “Great! I’ll give you a few people to travel into the Wasteland with!” The ecstatic mayor cheered as he smiled a bit too brightly for the occasion. Had she not been so naïve or young, she would have been more able to pick up on the fact he was sending her and a select few to their deaths. She was only eight years old and still believed that her mayor wasn’t pure evil.

            “O-okay… If you think I can do it, Cobalt, then…” her voice trailed off as she gripped the edges of her worn out, faded pink dress, “then you can count on me!” she mustered up all her courage to finish her sentence to the intimidating mayor.

            Mayor Cobalt flashed a quick smile, “Good, I knew I could count on you,” he chuckled at the unsuspecting girl. Had Rose known about the dangers of the Wasteland, she would never have gone on the mission. He knew how easy it was to control the young ones who were too weak or didn’t bring much help to Little Lamplight. He believed it was his duty as the mayor of his community to dwindle out the weakest ones.

            Rose gave an almost nonexistent nod to him before she cautiously made her way to her friend. She doubted that she was still waiting for her, but it didn’t stop her from hoping that when she turned the corner – nothing.

            Disappointed, the redhead trekked to her bed alone. Rose stopped as she heard the familiar sound of laughter echoing off the walls of the dimly lit cave. Laughter could only mean one thing: Knock Knock had to be nearby. With little thought, she headed over to see if she could join in on the fun, or at least watch the other kids have fun.

            “Rose!” Knock Knock exclaimed, waving over the frail little girl.

            Rose gave a glance or two at the older kids before she hesitantly made her way over to the welcoming ten-year-old. She may not have known much, but she did know one thing, she would have been alone if it weren’t for Knock Knock. “He-”

            “What did that mungo-wannabe want from you?” she asked, her face scrunching up in disgust, and she crossed her arms across her chest. Knock Knock didn’t hate most people, but she did make her hatred for Cobalt well-known throughout the cave.

            “H-he gave me a job to lead some others into the Wasteland for a few supplies,” she whimpered, suddenly feeling uneasy.

            “Bullshit!” Exclaimed a boy roughly around her age, she remembered Knick Knack, Knock Knock’s twin, calling him MacCready. “He’s sending you out on a fucking death sentence!” he spat.

            “What?” Rose gaped, narrowing her eyes at him, was he saying she was weak? Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. The mantra repeated itself into her head as she could feel the tears threatening to spill any second.

            “That bastard’s going to get all those fucking kids killed!” he yelled, and, because of the cave, it echoed in both her mind and in the physical world. She knew it wasn’t to her, but it still stung.

            “At least I’m not some fucking shrimp!” she yelled as she began to cry, pushing past him and Knock Knock, and the other kids she hadn’t paid attention to. She knew coming over to them was a bad idea, but she thought it was just her nerves making her feel sick again. As soon as she made it to her mattress behind a shelf of odds and ends, she buried her face in her pillow and tried to block out the numbing feeling of regret.

 

            “This is useless,” she muttered as she failed to, yet again, make more than a scratch in the clay, and yet to hit in the same spot. She blamed it on the fact that the machete was too heavy and awkward for her small hands. After one whole day of no progress, her mood deflated to the point where not even Knock Knock’s jokes were helping. She had exactly one week to learn how to protect herself from the dangers of the wasteland and so far she was getting nowhere.

            “I’ll be right back,” Knock Knock said as she hopped off of the rock she had been sitting on and dashed off before Machete or she could even say anything. The departure of her friend worsened her mood a little more, but she continued to try to swing the machete harder.

            “What the-”

            Rose stopped swinging the weapon as she took a step back from the clay wall and turned to see what alarmed Machete. “Knock Knock?” she asked, tilting her head to one side in curiosity.

            “Apologize,” she elbowed MacCready, who looked like he didn’t want to be here. _What’s the point of an apology if he doesn’t mean it?_

            “S-sorry,” MacCready stuttered, “I shouldn’t have said that. It’s not your fault you’re weak.” The last part earned an elbow to the gut from Knock Knock and a giggle from Rose.

            “It’s okay, Shrimp, you’re forgiven,” she said as she sat the machete down.

            “You’re training with a machete? Damn, you guys are trying to kill her,” MacCready said, giving Machete and Knock Knock a serious look.

            “What do you suggest, then?” Machete crossed her arms as she stared MacCready down.

            “Obviously not a blunt weapon; probably a gun, and definitely something small, like a pistol. There’s no way in hell she could even kill a radroach with a blunt weapon,” MacCready suggested.

            “If she’s dealing with guns, then I’m out. Sorry, Rose, but I don’t handle guns,” Machete said as she picked up the machete Rose had sat down and walked away.

            “Oh… Okay, bye Machete! Thanks for helping me!” she called after the older kid who gave a wave in return.

            “I could help, so long as you don’t get yourself killed. It’ll look bad if my first apprentice decides to get herself fucked,” MacCready said, looking away from Rose.

            “R-really?” Rose stuttered and almost hugged him, but he shot that down with a glare.

            “I didn’t fucking stutter, just promise you don’t get killed, okay?” He spat.

            “I promise!” Rose exclaimed excitedly. With Machete she was getting nowhere, but if she tried a different approach, then maybe she’ll have a better chance.

            “I see my work here is done. If you need me, Rose, I’ll be annoying my twin,” Knock Knock grinned mischievously as she dashed off. With her gone, Rose found herself alone with the boy who was just about a stranger to her.

 

            It was now just a few minutes before Cobalt was sending her out with a few other Little Lamplighters, all which she never even knew existed until just now. “Stay safe!” Knock Knock ordered her young friend who only nodded, now confident that she wasn’t going to die out there anymore thanks to MacCready.

            “Is Shrimp coming? I-I wanted to say…goodbye,” Rose said, rubbing her arm and finding the rocks on the ground far more interesting than Knock Knock.

            “I’ll tell him you said goodbye,” Knock Knock smiled as she pushed her friend towards the other children. They weren’t armed with much, one kid only had her bare fists so Rose felt extra lucky to have the 10mm pistol MacCready had given her.

            Rose's nerves and excitement prevented her from remembering much of what Cobalt had said. The only remembering thing was that they were to fill their bags with as many supplies as they could carry. With the conclusion of Cobalt’s speech, they were off and Rose was leading into unfamiliar territory.

            It took Rose a good five minutes to get adjusted to the bright sunlight beaming into her blue eyes. During those few minutes, she kept repeating Machete’s advice. _Don’t go north, don’t go south. Stick to the east and west._ Guess she should have asked which way was east and which way was west because now she was completely lost and the other kids didn’t look like they knew much about their surroundings either.

            While she was trying to figure out which was east and west, the other kids were talking, and now she knew their names. The girl with dark brown hair was named Pepper because she ate an extremely hot and radiated pepper and lived to tell the tale with no signs of radiation. The boy with the blond, almost white, hair was named Lambert because he had the appearance of a brave Lion, but had the heart of a cowardly sheep. Then there was Nomi, she didn’t speak much, but she was known for having a temper and loved to swing her fists.

            “Are you all set?” Pepper asked, resting a hand on Rose’s shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

            “Y-yeah,” Rose choked out as she tried to keep her eyes open wide. It was different from the cave, it wasn’t awful, but it still hurt and left her vision taking a toll.

            “W-where are we…g-goi-” Lambert coughed awkwardly. “Going, I mean where are we, yeah…” he trailed off, scratching the back of his head.

            “Machete gave me some directions, it shouldn’t be too far,” Rose said and gave a quick gaze around. She had a 50/50 chance of going in the right direction so she decided to go in the direction easiest with her eyes, which was away from the sun. It didn’t take long till the Sun’s rays were shining on her left shoulder and not completely on her back.

            After almost an hour of walking, voices were heard in the distance; she gave a quick glance behind her and noticed her teammates hadn’t heard it. She sighed and decided it was most likely nothing and ignored it, figuring she was losing her mind.

            This time she heard it and she knew she wasn’t losing her mind. She was working on instinct at the moment, knocking Lambert out of the way and slamming her shoulder hard on the rough surface. “Run!” she yelled, which Lambert didn’t waste any time doing as he was already kicking up dust and hightailing it back in the direction they came from.

            Pepper looked like she wasn’t going to budge, while Nomi had one foot behind her, almost like she wasn’t sure if she should leave or help. Her hesitation was all it took for what had almost killed Lambert to strike Nomi down, leaving her a burning, screaming mess. Pepper seemed to snap out of her daze as she picked up Rose, not caring if she injured her and carried her bridal style away from them.

            “No! No! Put me down! Leave me!” Rose cried, thrashing in the older girl’s arms.

            “Shut up! Shut up!” Pepper screamed, dropping Rose and bursting into tears, “It’s your fault! She’s dead and Lambert won’t ever find his way back and now they’re going to-”

            Rose quickly pulled out her 10mm pistol and shot at the metal figure making their way towards her and Pepper. “Leave us alone!” Rose screamed, relentlessly shooting at the heavily protected man.

            She heard what sounded like laughter coming from the man before she saw him raise a gun. She didn’t see it at first, but she heard the screams beside her that followed after every shot. In just seconds, the girl who had attempted to save her life was just a pile of ashes.

            Rose quickly crawled backward but collapsed when her right shoulder gave out. Instead, she turned around and took off, running straight into a man who had been watching everything. “Please help! Don’t let him kill me!” she cried, waving the gun at the soldier.

            “Colonel Autumn,” the soldier addressed the man and it dawned on Rose that he wasn’t going to save her.

            “Well, aren’t you just what I’ve been looking for,” the alleged Colonel Autumn drawled out slowly, staring down at her as if she was a prized trophy. “Hunt down that boy. I want a child squad as well,” he barked at one of the soldiers who quickly took another and sped off to find him.

            “No! Leave him alone!” Rose cried, trying to strike a hit at the strange mungo that had a tight grip on the back of her neck, enabling her from breathing. Stars started to blur her vision, and before she could wriggle out of his grasp she was down.

            “We couldn’t find the boy, Colonel,” a soldier apologized as they came back from the direction Lambert took off in.

            “Colonel, may I asked why you wanted us to find the boy?” the other asked.

            “How many of us would expect a child to attack adults? They can get infiltrate and help us pinpoint the stronger ones and kill off the weaker ones,” Colonel Autumn announced his plan to the soldiers. “I believe Paradise Falls has some child abominations we can buy. We’ll collect and train them, see how it turns out,” he declared, hope lighting his eyes.

 

            Lambert gasped and keeled over; losing what was once his lunch before he ran again, he had to get back to the others. He didn’t know what he was going to say. Mungos killed everyone? He knew mungos were bad news, but to just attack a group of kids? Finally, he made it to Little Lamplight.

            “C-Cobalt! Cobalt, Cobalt, Cobalt,” he wheezed, almost tripping a few times before catching himself.

            “What are you doing back?” Cobalt spat at the terrified kid.

            “S-sol… Soldiers! Mungos! Th-they took them! No no! Killed them! They burned Nomi and then shot Pepper!” Lambert coughed, his lungs felt like they were on fire. He had looped around as soon as he realized that the others weren’t following him and only took off running as soon as he saw Rose go down.

            “Rose? What the fuck happened to Rose?” MacCready asked, already getting impatient with the cowardly boy.

            Lucy had handed him some water and he was busy downing it like it was the first drink he’d ever had in his life, “I-I don’t know!” He wailed, “H-he had his hands on her neck and then the next she w-was-” he couldn’t finish his sentence as he had broken out into tears.

            MacCready immediately went silent, he didn’t say goodbye. He had considered it, but why should he? She promised to come back but now she was gone, never coming back, and he didn’t fucking say goodbye.


	3. Chapter Two: Abandoned (2275)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “The immediate result of abandoned idealism is an embittered and drained man, whether he realizes it or not, whether he likes it or not.”  
> – Mike Klepper

            It didn’t take long for Rose to abandon parts of her former self; she didn’t want to die, she wanted to live. If she continued on as she had, she wouldn’t be standing among the other children. Armed with nothing but a 10mm pistol an old friend had given her and a few rounds, she was leading an expedition back to Raven Rock to report in. Unlike the first time she had gone out, she had protection underneath her dirty dress and a solid year of nothing but training.

            “M6-F5, pick up the pace!” Rose yelled out her friend’s codename. That’s all they were to the Enclave, toy soldiers who had to be obedient and only ask the right questions. Rose saw it firsthand with AZ-30, who had refused to shoot a fleeing person. The result left two unnecessary dead bodies - one that could have been avoided if he had obeyed.

            M6-F5 was struggling under the extra weight the supervisor was making him carry for questioning an order. Rose slowed her pace a little for him but ushered for him to catch up.

            “Sorry, PV-11,” was all he said as he came jogging up to her. In private, the other children called her ‘One’ because she was the first child the Enclave began training. Colonel Autumn was proud of the unit he had created, and it was all thanks to her. Had she not pulled out that gun and tried to shoot at the soldier, none of them would be here. Some would still be slaves, some would still be with their families, and she would have kept her promise that she made had made what felt like forever ago.

            The oldest child the Enclave had was EJ-73, who was fourteen years old. She had to decide his fate, or at least witness the older, more important people decide the fate of one of her people. All she could do was watch and make a few points here and there; luckily she had abandoned another aspect of her former self. At Little Lamplight she could hardly talk to people she didn’t know well, but here she was preparing herself for the meeting tonight. She would go before everyone and say what she had to say – nothing more, nothing less, only what was expected of her.

            Colonel Autumn swore up and down that no harm would come to her at the hands of the Enclave, but she knew that he wasn’t one to be trusted. Even if he would treat her like a father would treat his sickly daughter who had an incurable, infectious disease.

            “Stop daydreaming, PV-11,” scolded the supervisor as he pushed past her, almost knocking her to her feet. He was a Tesla Soldier and was offended that he got stuck babysitting her division.

            “Sorry, sir!” she yelled out, picking up her pace so that she was, once again, in the lead of the group. Raven Rock wasn’t too far ahead now; she could see it in the distance.

            “PV-11, you are to report to Colonel Autumn immediately,” one of the officers said to her as she made her way inside. Her teammates gave her a sympathetic look before following an officer back to their barracks.

_There goes my chance to eat with everyone._ Rose thought bitterly as she realized that she would be eating alone again. “I guess we should go then?” she asked quietly, finding her voice slipping from her.

            “You know the way, _abomination._ Take yourself,” the soldier spat as he took off his helmet.

            “Well, I just thought you didn’t want an ‘abomination’ to walk around Raven Rock unsupervised.” Rose countered, mumbling to herself.

            The Tesla Soldier growled, slipping his helmet back on and stared down at her, “Let’s just go, okay?” he snarled.

            Rose nodded; she couldn’t go and meet up with Colonel Autumn by herself, even if he had called for her. She had to find someone available and willing to take her, which only irritated the most of the soldiers.

            When she had first walked down these halls, she had been eight years old and was barely conscious. She remembered the sounds of the soldiers’ power armor slamming onto the hard ground, sending waves of pain through her head. She remembered the blood-curdling screams of terror and pain as she was laid on the bed. At first, she had thought it was other people, but it slowly dawned on her that she was the owner of the screams that could only come from nightmares.

            They had her locked up in quarantine for weeks, she wasn’t sure how long, but it was somewhere in the weeks. Every day they would perform tests on her, stick needles in her and put some unknown fluids into her body. It was on her tenth time she had woken up that the man she had first met, Colonel Autumn, came to her and talked to her.

            She recalled the fact that she couldn’t concentrate on a word he had said because of all the stuff they had pumped into her small body. For some reason, he was still choosing then to give her an option, either she worked for them or they killed her. In her dazed state, she accepted his offer, something she found herself regretting every now and then. Had she chose the latter, someone else would be in her shoes and she wouldn’t constantly feel sick with herself. _Well, it’s too late to go back._

            “I’ll wait for you out here,” the soldier said as he opened the door for her.

            “Colonel Autumn?” Rose called out as the door was shut tight behind her.

            “You’re late,” he hissed as he stood up from his terminal, turning to face the young girl.

            “S-sorry, sir! It won’t happen again!” she yelled out, saluting him. That must not have been enough, or he was in a bad mood today, because his fist immediately collided with her cheek, sending her reeling backward. These were the days that made her regret her decision to stay alive.

            “The mission was simple, go to Bigtown and kill the abominations there!” he exclaimed, referring to the mission she had gone on yesterday.

            She stared at the ground, her body shaking with…pain? Anger? Nerves? She couldn’t tell because her body was flooded with so many emotions. “The mission, sir…” Rose began as she stood up slowly, almost slipping from her palms being slick with sweat, “was beyond my people.” She stared up at him with narrowed eyes, “They’ve had maybe a week or two of training, they need more time before I can trust them with something like that. K0-L3 put a gun to me, I had to kill him,” she explained, her voice wavering as she said the last part. _Don’t let him see you’re breaking, he’ll think you’re weak. Don’t show. Don’t cry. You are strong._ The voice droned on in the back of her head as she struggled to not to show any emotion.

            “Why did you retreat? You could have taken them all on, and if need be, you always have back up no more than 500 feet away from you.” Colonel Autumn stated with a steady voice of authority.

            “Sir, with all due respect, I am not as all-powerful as you think I am. I just want to survive,” Rose said, mimicking the voice of the subordinates’ monotonic voice when they address their superior. She kept her wavering gaze behind him, not refusing to look exactly at him for fear she would burst into tears.

            The seconds clicked away on the clock, and by the time a full minute had passed, her gaze was starting to wander the room. “Quit with the nicknames, PV-11. You are all abomination, you don’t deserve names.” He said coldly, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had enveloped the chilly room.

            “S-sir?” she stuttered, snapping her gaze toward him.

            “You heard me, _One,_ ” he spat out her nickname the other children had given her like it was a deadly poison, before moving back to his terminal. “You’re dismissed, PV-11. Don’t forget about the meeting tomorrow.” He reminded her before she could exit the room.

            The walk back to the ‘abomination’ quarters was in complete silence. By now it was too late for her to go to the cafeteria and grab something to eat, so she would have to wait until the morning.

_Who does he think he is? He can’t force us to abandon everything that makes us…us! He’s already taken away our childhood, what more does he want?_ She thought bitterly as she struggled to keep up with the much taller soldier.

            “Thank you, sir,” she said, saluting him before hurrying into the room. She knew that Colonel Autumn was leaving her to deliver the message of no more nicknames. She didn't want to, it was one of the last things that they still had as their own.

            “What did he want?” the question came from the youngest recruit; she, along with her twin, was roughly four years old.

            “I’ll tell you in a second, okay, Mila?” Rose asked, addressing the young girl by her nickname. No name given by the Enclave were names, they were just four scrambled numbers and letters. Mila’s 'name' assigned to her by the Enclave was M1-L4.

            “Okay!” she said, smiling brightly at the older girl.

            “Everyone! Can I have your attention for a moment?” Rose called out, her pale eyes gazing across the trembling children. “It has come to Colonel Autumn’s attention that we do not refer to each other, or ourselves, by the name the Enclave has given us. He has asked that we stop assigning nicknames to one another or there will be consequences.” She announced once she was certain everyone was listening.

            “What? They can’t do that!” cried one of the older children.

            “I want to go home!” wailed a younger child who still had no idea what was going on.

            Rose learned recently that the best thing to do is to just block them out and go to bed. Besides, she was starving and the earlier she went to bed, the sooner she woke up and got food.

            “Goodnight, One,” hummed M1-L4 as she tucked herself into her shared bed with her twin.

            “Goodnight, M1-L4,” Rose responded back. She was too exhausted, mentally and physically, to correct the innocent child.


	4. Chapter Three: Martyr

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr, but let no one lust for martyrdom.”  
> – Mahatma Gandhi

            Rose had finished early and had plenty of time to kill before she had to get ready to witness EJ-73’s fate be decided. She dreaded the decision they would come across because it showed how disposable they were to the Enclave. The situation also proved that there was no escaping the Enclave. She was foolish to think that the Enclave would just kick her out at the age of 16 or 18 when her childlike innocence would no longer throw off her targets.

            “Rose!” M1-L4 cried as she ran up to her with outstretched arms.

            “PV-11,” Rose corrected as an officer looked down at the two while she passed by the two children.

            “Can you help me?” the young girl asked, giving Rose the best ‘puppy-dog’ eyes she could make.

            Rose gave out a sigh, “What do you need help with?” she asked as M1-L4 squealed and gave her a hug.

            “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I knew you’d help me!” she cheered, taking Rose’s response as a yes.

            “W-wait a minute!” Rose exclaimed, trying to stop the young girl as she dashed off. An animalistic growl escaped her lips as she chased after the bothersome girl. _This better be good!_

            “See! I told you she’d come!” M1-L4 scolded her twin, M1-R4, who just stared blankly at Rose.

            “What did you need help with?” she asked, staring down at the twins, ready to scold them for wasting her time.

            “U-um, well… Y-you see…” M1-L4 began but couldn’t bring herself to speak in front of her.

            M1-R4 sighed, “We want to know if you could help us shoot, you’re the best shooter, so…please?” she asked as she looked down at the ground, her cheeks tinged pink.

            Rose gawked at the pleading duo, the two girls only wanted to practice shooting? She quickly recomposed herself and straightened up. “I’m sorry, but you know the rules, no one below five is allowed to practice shooting guns.” And with that, she turned to go back towards their quarters. She had roughly four hours before she had to get ready for the meeting and she wanted to make good use of her time.

 

            “So good of you to join us, PV-11,” one of the senior officers said as Rose sat down in a chair not far from Colonel Autumn.

            “Thank you for having me,” Rose replied.

            “She’s well-spoken, Colonel Autumn, I can see why you favor her so much,” praised one of the senior soldiers.

            Colonel Autumn coughed, gathering everyone’s attention. “We are here to discuss EJ-73, who, as of tomorrow, will be fifteen years old. We need to decide what will be done to him and all future child abominations under Enclave control. Any suggestions?” He asked, looking at each person for a second, skipping over Rose. She was only there to keep up the illusion that the abominations under Enclave control had a voice.

            “Execute them, they’ve used up their usefulness for us and would only get in the way. Nobody wants an abomination around more than it is needed,” stated the oldest officer.

            “Wait a minute; we still have the deathclaw experiments. We could send all the ones at the ages fifteen and up to work alongside them. That way we can stop losing soldiers because of faulty gear.” Reasoned a younger Enclave member, most likely from the science side of the Enclave. Both were death sentences, just one was immediate, and the other was a constant wondering of ‘is today the day I’m going to be a deathclaw chew toy?’

            “True, but once your team gets that straight, then what will we do with them?” the senior officer who had spoken earlier retorted back, crossing her arms across her chest and arching an eyebrow.

            “We’ll decide when we get there, for now, we’ll send them to work alongside the deathclaws.” Colonel Autumn intercepted their debate. “Do we all agree to send EJ-73 to work alongside the deathclaws?” he asked, but in his mind, it was already decided.

            “Yes,” everyone in the room agreed almost all at once.

            “No,” Rose accidentally said, she didn’t mean to say it out loud, honest, but it had slipped out. She quickly clamped her hands over her mouth, her face already as red as her hair.

            “What was that, PV-11?” Colonel Autumn said, glaring at her from his seat.

            “I-I…” the fear was already sinking in. These people were monsters who had just all agreed to her death sentence. Maybe she won’t die today, but if she lived to be fifteen, they were going to die no matter what happened now. There truly was no escape from this hell, and it was all her fault everyone was here, she should have never pulled out that gun.

            “We’re waiting, PV-11,” Colonel Autumn said, leaning forward in his seat.

            “I agree with everyone else, Colonel Autumn,” she replied, shrinking back into her seat, wishing all eyes would stop staring at her.

            “We’ll send EJ-73 to the deathclaws tomorrow after he’s had a full meal,” one of the soldiers told the scientist.

            “That sounds like a plan,” the scientist grinned.

            “PV-11, you may leave now,” Colonel Autumn said, dismissing the petrified child.

            Rose shadowed the officer escorting her back to her quarters, her expression was as somber as the event she had just come from. Had she just done that? Sentenced them all to their deaths? What _could_ she have done to save them? She was just a child; despite the standards everyone seemed to have her set on.

            “Thank you,” she murmured to the officer as she brushed past him and into the room. The soft _whoosh_ and click signaled that he had shut and locked the door.

_“Rose!”_ wailed M1-L4, who was crying into her sister’s shoulder.

“W-what’s going on…?” Rose said, taking a step back as she snapped her pale gaze around the room for answers.

            “One of us stole a gun from the arsenal, so they’re doing interrogations,” M6-F5 stated from his top bunk as he peered over at them with a bored expression. “You three are the last, so my guess is…one of you did it,” he said lazily, rolling back over onto his back.

            “Who’s next?” Rose asked, looking back towards M6-F5.

            “They’re going by oldest to youngest, so you should be next.” The quiet reply came from M1-R4, who, unlike her twin, wasn’t balling her eyes out in fear. “PV-11,” the voice came from the intercom.

            Rose sighed as she lowered her head, “Yes?” she asked.

            “I heard they got you all caught up on what’s going on, which is good. An officer, Officer Olivers, you remember him, don’t you?” the voice paused from her coddling of Rose, “He’s going to let you out and take you to my office, don’t move, okay?” the voice said in that sickly-sweet, motherly tone.

            Unlike the other children, Rose knew that the Enclave never installed the cameras in here, just the microphones. She had about twenty-five seconds before the door would open up.

            ‘Give it,’ she mouthed to the twins, holding out her hand, which only sent M1-L4 off more as her wails started to sound more like terrified screams. M1-R4 didn’t hesitate and handed the gun to her. Rose stuck it between her pants and underwear and pulled her shirt over it so that it wouldn’t be detected.

            Just as Rose finally looked innocent, the doors were opened and Officer Olivers stood in front her, a shiver ran up her spines. It didn’t take long for her to find out that he was the culprit who murdered Pepper and Nomi. At the time, he had been a soldier, but late became an officer for some unknown reason to her. “Follow me, PV-11,” he said before turning around and walking down the hall, towards Dr. Lanski’s office.

            The walk was shorter than what Rose remembered. Then again the last time she was here sitting in front of the eccentric blonde, she was roughly eight years old. “My! Look at you! You’ve become quite the talk here in the Enclave!” she said in her cheery voice.

_What if this is their way of taking EJ-73 away without causing an uproar with their abominations?_ The thought crossed Rose’s mind as the ecstatic woman continued talking about her 'outstanding' records. “Why am I here?” she interrupted, her voice wavering a bit but she didn’t stutter.

            Dr. Lanski froze for a second before putting on a big smile. “I was just getting there, aren’t you a clever one, PV-11!” she exclaimed, laughing lightly. As soon as she stopped laughing she leaned forward and all traces of the friendly Mariah Lanski was gone, replaced by a twisted, shrewd woman. “Let’s be real, PV-11, you know who took the gun and you’re covering for them, aren’t you? You know, you’re one of the most important abominations; you’re Colonel Autumn’s favorite. I’m sure if you tell us who took the gun, we can rearrange so that you won’t be like the others. You won’t die at fifteen if you just tell us who took the gun,” she said, giving the girl a choice.

            Rose could feel the pressure of the gun behind her weighing down, but none of that mattered if she was just going to end up killing people to live. “Stop saying promises you can never keep. I took the gun,” she said, not breaking eye contact with the appalled woman.

            “I-I… I’ll need proof right this instant!” she exclaimed, just a few notches from yelling.

            Rose nodded before reaching behind her and taking out the gun. “I took the gun shortly after finishing my breakfast. I was going to practice shooting later tonight,” she explained, sitting the gun on her desk.

            “W-what have you done?” Dr. Lanski gasped; her eyes were as wide as saucers. The two stared back at each other; one waiting for the other to make a move, and the other waiting for the other to explain herself. She gave a soft _ahem_ before pressing a button on her table. “Colonel Autumn, sir, I’m sorry to bother you, but…” she trailed off, unsure if she wanted to be the one to deliver the news to him.

            “What is it, Dr. Lanski?” Colonel Autumn asked, his voice sounding a bit distorted through the intercom she was using.

            “I found the culprit who took the gun, sir…” she looked skeptical for a second, her voice sounded tense. _Was I right?_ Rose quickly shook the thought out of her head; of course this wasn’t their way of taking away EJ-73.

            “Oh? And why did EJ-73 steal the gun?” Colonel Autumn asked as he chuckled lightly, oblivious to the reality of the situation, still sticking to the script.

            “Sir…” Dr. Lanski said nervously, her voice's pitch increasing, “it’s not EJ-73. It’s…PV-11.”

            “Hold on, I’ll be there in a second, keep PV-11 there until I get there,” Colonel Autumn said, clicking off on the intercom.

            Dr. Lanski turned to Rose and smiled politely, “I’m sure you heard, but the Colonel is on his way. I’m sure he’d like to talk to you,” she said, not meeting Rose’s quivering eyes.

            “It was just a joke… This was all a hoax to get EJ-73 from us…” Rose whispered, tears threatening to spill out. Sure, she hated the Enclave as much as the rest of the children, but she didn’t think they would actually do something like this to them. It made her sick, she wanted to scream and cry, but she remembered the last time she had a breakdown. They threw her back into quarantine, probing her with the needles and injecting her with the metallic substances.

            Colonel Autumn entered the room, throwing Rose out of her thoughts, and stood at the entrance. “PV-11, I hear you’re the reason for our missing gun, but I find that hard to believe. Did EJ-73 put you up to this? You can tell me, I won’t let you be punished if you are honest,” he said after the door closed shut behind him.

            “No, I did it all on my own, no one else had any part in this. I acted entirely on my own,” Rose responded, looking Colonel Autumn in the eye as she spoke.

            “Are you sure you want to do that, PV-11? Going down this road, you won’t be able to serve the Enclave to your potential,” Colonel Autumn advised. “The punishment for this crime is working alongside the deathclaws, you know that.”

           “My name is Rose; this PV-11 you speak of does not and will never exist, so stop calling me that. EJ-73 did nothing wrong and still has potential. Sentencing him to work with the deathclaws just because he’s older than most of us doesn’t mean he’s no longer of value to the Enclave. Get creative. You can’t sentence us to death like this, we aren’t your slaves. You can’t treat us like property,” She said, surprising herself. The moment she looked up at his face, she knew this was it for her. She had crossed that thin line, and no amount of favoritism she received from him was going to save her.

            Colonel Autumn sighed, running a hand through his hair before nodding. “Change of plans, we’ll test out this punishment with you, PV-11, and it appears you need to be taught a lesson. It will be permanent, and as soon as you die, we’ll send EJ-73 to take your place, so don’t die,” he said, adding in a tight, closed half-smile.

            “I won’t die,” Rose responded back defiantly but found herself not believing her own words.

            With that, Dr. Lanski called in the two guards at the door. “Take PV-11 to Dr. Johnson; tell him she’s taking EJ-73’s place,” she ordered the pair.

            “I had high hopes for you, PV-11,” Colonel Autumn admitted, staring down at her as one of the guards bound her arms together. His confession only earned him a scoff from the young child, not caring that she was disrespecting the strongest man in the Enclave ranks. “Take her to Dr. Johnson's lab and tell him change of plans, I need to finish talking with Dr. Lanski.” He ordered the soldiers.

            Soon, they were in parts of Raven Rock that Rose had never seen before, and it wasn't long before they were at their destination. “Dr. Johnson!” called the guard leading them into the room filled with cages.

            “This isn’t EJ-73?” Dr. Johnsons questioned, putting on his glasses, “Ah, yes, it appears there’s been a mistake with you people. This is clearly PV-11, I am to have EJ-73,” he said, trying to shoo the men and her away.

            “No,” the two guards gave an awkward glance at one another, “Colonel Autumn oversaw us taking her away. She’s supposed to be here.” The one who had originally addressed Dr. Johnson said.

            “Well, if you’re certain… Toss her in that cage,” Dr. Johnson said, waving to a cage closest to them. “Her name is L1-L1 – I like to call her Lili – she’s shown the most improvement with humans. Hasn’t bitten a single one in…almost three days,” he stated rather proudly.

            The guards ushered her over towards the cage and as soon as one guard had released her from the handcuffs, the other shoved her into the cage. “Ah!” she yelped as her shoulder landed hard on the metal floor of the cage.

            The sounds of something sniffing and scuffling around alerted her, letting her know the deathclaw was already in the cage with her. “N-nice…nice deathclaw…” Rose said softly. She’d seen a few deathclaws in her times out with the Enclave and knew she never wanted to mess with them.

            The beast let out a growl before stepping into sight; it looked smaller than most of the ones she’d seen and had lighter fur. The creature tilted its head to one side and sniffed the air before dropping low and slowly stalking up to her. It’s piercing, unblinking yellow eyes staring deep into Rose’s pale blue eyes.

            “H-hey…” Rose said as calmly as she could, her voice wavering more than what she would have liked. She could practically feel her heartbeat pounding in her chest, and sweat was pouring off of her, making her hands slick with sweat. “E-easy girl,” she whimpered, slowly backing further into the corner as the deathclaw came closer.

            As soon as the deathclaw came close enough where she was breathing down on Rose, she turned back around and lay in her corner, staring at her. Every time Rose moved, the deathclaw would get back up and stare down at her, so she tried her best to limit her movement. _This is going to be a long night._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate doing notes at the end but wanted to apologize for the late update! I'm finishing up my summer college classes, just have until Monday and then I'm done for the summer!(:


	5. Chapter Four: Conquer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “The chains that break you, are the chains that make you. And the chains that make you, are the chains you break.”  
> – Anthony Liccione

            Rose kept a close eye on L1-L1 the first night, but by the ninth night of being in the cage with the monstrous beast, she relaxed a bit. Even trying her luck by approaching her a few times, of course, every time L1-L1 made a sudden movement, she would hightail back to her corner.

            “Try sleeping closer to her tonight, okay PV-11?” Dr. Johnson suggested as he wrote down some notes, observing her from outside the cage.

            “Easy for you to say, you’re not playing Russian roulette every night,” she muttered. She had only ever heard about it once and it was vaguely described to her by one of the older kids. They had said it was something about loading a gun up with one bullet and shooting it at someone. The game itself sounded idiotic to her, but the fear she imagined it would bring to someone was what she felt every night. Sleeping in the deathclaw den, unsure every night when she would get shot, or, in this case, ripped to pieces.

            “Oh?” Dr. Johnson chuckled shining a light over L1-L1, “Have you ever considered that I am? You do know I am the one who takes cares of the deathclaws, right? You think they get fed and their filth is discarded?” he countered, turning away from the young girl.

            “I expect results by tomorrow morning PV-11,” he hummed as he strutted back to his desk.

            “ _I expect results by tomorrow morning PV-11_ ,” Rose mocked him with a huff.

            “What was that?” he asked, barely giving her as much as a glance from his terminal.

            “Nothing…” Rose grumbled, leaning her back against the cold metal wall.

            “Ah, no,” Dr. Johnson said, looking back up at Rose. “I need you to sleep in the corner opposite of L1-L1,” he said, but she knew it was a demand and if she didn’t listen, he’d taser her again.

            Rose decided to push her luck and play innocence, something it feels like she lost a long time ago sometimes, and tilted her head to one side, “What? I thought I already was opposite of her?” she narrowed her eyes slightly.

            Dr. Johnson sighed and tilted his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose before he turned his dark gaze on her. “I don’t mean sit diagonally across, I want you to sit in the corner to the right of L1-L1,” he clarified, his voice sounded tired.

            “Her right or my right?” Rose asked, waving a finger back and forth between the corner in front of L1-L1 and the corner beside her.

            “L1-L1’s right, just sleep there for tonight!” Dr. Johnson exclaimed rather loudly, his patience was always thin.

            Rose’s smile dropped, “Sure,” she said, not bothering to face that man.

            The deathclaw had been staring at her the whole time; as if she knew that tonight Rose was going to attempt to get closer to the monster. She snorted and stood up, circling the area she claimed as her bed, before lying down again, this time her back was turned away from Rose.

            “I have the monitors on for tonight, so I’ll know if you try to trick me tomorrow morning,” Dr. Johnson said as he began to turn off the lights in the lab.

            Rose liked to believe it was just him in the deathclaw laboratory, but there was a whole team of scientists in this department. The other scientists barely checked on her and L1-L1, leaving that to Dr. Johnson. “Who does he think he is?” Rose grumbled as she grabbed the two blankets and flat pillow they had given her. The blankets weren’t much, but they were better than sleeping on a frigid, hard floor.

            The deathclaw immediately sat up and turned around, staring down at the young girl. It growled softly before it lowered itself low to the ground and raked its long claws across the metal floor.

            “Easy girl, easy,” Rose said, trying to keep her voice from breaking or wavering. While her voice managed to sound firm and gentle, her body couldn’t stop shaking. She had half a mind to throw her blankets on the floor and sleep in her usual spot out of pure stubbornness, but something in her had finally broken and she was done resisting them. “Rather you like it or not, this is happening tonight,” she said and stuck her chin in the air as she stepped closer to the creature. L1-L1 backed up closer to the corner, growling and baring her teeth at her.

            Rose ignored the constant threats coming from the deathclaw and took slow and cautious steps toward the beast hiding in the corner. It took her almost ten minutes to move fifteen feet, but the deathclaw hadn’t tried to hurt her. Instead, she slowly stopped with her constant hum of growls, and stared at her, unsure of what to do with the small child curled up beside her on the floor with her back to her. The creature snorted before curling up into a ball and wrapping her scaly tail over her nose but still kept a close eye on Rose.

 

            “Rise and shine, PV-11,” Dr. Johnson singed cheerfully, ecstatic to find the deathclaw sleeping alongside her.

            “Hm?” she rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, but was still in her curled up position on the floor.

            “An old friend of yours is stopping by to pay you a visit, I’m sure you’ll need to get ready or something.” Dr. Johnson said as he pulled out some notes and sat down in front of his terminal.

            Rose sat up slowly, “I think you’re wrong because I don’t have any friends.” Okay, that wasn’t true, but she doubted that anyone from there would visit her just cause. Well, M1-L4 would, but she wasn’t able to do much in the Enclave since her voice wasn’t as strong.

            “Oh, now I should be more specific, shouldn’t I?” Dr. Johnson hummed, downing some of the golden-brown liquid in his dirty glass cup.

            “It would be helpful,” Rose grumbled, looking down at the ground.

            “I’ll give you a hint, he’s the most important person in the Enclave,” he said, waving over a younger scientist. “Send this to Dr. Lanski,” he ordered the young man, handing him a folder.

            “Yes sir,” the man said, immediately leaving the room to carry out his new task.

            Rose watched him leave, eyeing the folder suspiciously before she snapped her gaze back over at Dr. Johnson, “When will he be here?” she asked as she got up, aware that the deathclaw was now eyeing her.

            “Hey, Dawson, what time is it?” Dr. Johnson asked, leaning back in his seat so he could have a better view of the young woman who was busily typing a report on her terminal. The rapid _taptaptap_ came to an abrupt halt as she looked down at the clock. “It’s 0745,” she replied and carried on with her _taptaptap_ on the ancient keyboard.

            “You have fifteen minutes before he gets here,” he said and turned his attention back to his terminal, trying to look busy.

            Rose let out a faint growl of annoyance before skulking over towards her piles of blankets and sitting on top of them. She could care less if Colonel Autumn decided to pay her a visit, it was all about keeping the peace with his ‘precious little child soldiers’ for him. He never actually cared about them. To him, they were just another resource. The minutes quickly ticked away, and Rose’s thoughts continued to lap at her hunger, feeding her growing pain. She wasn’t sure what she was upset about, but she knew it was linked back to him. As soon as the doors opened, she was up on her feet, ready to face the man who was the cause of most of her agony.

            “PV-11, I see you’ve tamed the beast,” Colonel Autumn said proudly as he approached the enraged girl. She was normally calm and laid-back, but after being stuck in a cage for eleven days and ten nights she had had enough and wanted out of this. It was obvious by now that this deathclaw wasn’t going to harm her.

            “Like you have room to talk!” she spat crossly, taking a step back from up against the cage so she could stare up at Colonel Autumn.

            He arched an eyebrow at the young child, almost thinking he had misheard her, but, no, she was seething with anger. “Would you like to explain yourself, _abomination_?” he growled, spitting out the word ‘abomination’ like it was a toxic disease.

            “I’m tired,” Rose mumbled, “I’m tired of always having to behave and do this and that, but no matter what I do, I know no matter what, you’re going to kill me. So most of all, I’m tired of waiting for my death! Just kill me now and get it over with!” she exclaimed, her words getting lost in her wails as she burst into tears.

            “Quit your crying, you’re too important to be killed,” Colonel Autumn sighed. “L1-L1 was never meant to kill you, she was raised by the Enclave when she was just a couple months old and is our most docile deathclaw. To be honest, PV-11, what we have planned next for you will make you wish for these nights in this cage again. This punishment was never meant for you, we had something else in mind for you when you turned fifteen,” he admitted.

            “W-we…?” Rose asked, she thought that he alone had been making the calls but had she been wrong? Was he saying that there was someone above him? That would be impossible though, she’s only ever heard of Colonel Autumn.

            “President John Henry Eden, the president of the United States, wishes to meet with you in person before we continue on with what we have planned for you,” Colonel Autumn said turning around and leading her and his guards out of the lab.

            “Sir, don’t forget about PV-11’s evaluation with Dr. Lanski at 1430!” Dr. Johnson called after Colonel Autumn.

            PV-11 was too busy trying to keep up with the much taller men that she didn’t hear what he had said, “Why haven’t I heard of him before?” she asked.

            “Because there was no need for you to know,” was the only response she got from Colonel Autumn.

            She had been in the levels they walked past; the final level must be where President Eden was. To say she was nervous to meet the man that most likely leaded her and her friend’s to suffer was an understatement. She was extremely nervous to meet him, in fact she had just vomited all over the floor.

            “Get a janitor to clean this filth up,” Colonel Autumn hissed at one of the guards, glaring at the sobbing child. “And bring back a glass of water,” he said, sighing as he lessened his glare on the young girl’s trembling form.

            “Yes sir!” the soldier barked, rushing down the hall.

            “Come on, we have a meeting, child,” Colonel Autumn said, continuing down the hall.

            Rose wiped away her tears and shakily wobbled after him. Her legs now felt like Jell-O and her stomach felt like it had been gutted out, so she was a bit hungry, although still nauseous. “Coming,” she croaked.

            In record time, the guard had made it to them with the glass of water in hand, “Here you go,” he said, handing it to Rose, which she gladly accepted and drunk it all down, handing the empty glass back to him.

            Colonel Autumn pressed an ID in front of something she couldn’t quite see, which opened the door to the final level, revealing a room with many stairs leading up. “President Eden, I have the girl as you’ve asked,” he said as they came up the many stairs.

            Rose had expected to meet a man or a woman possibly surrounded by the best of the best, but, no, to her disappointment it was a machine. “What is going on?” she asked, nervously laughing as she took a few tentative steps forward, only going as close as a few steps behind Colonel Autumn. This obviously couldn’t be real. This…thing was leading the Enclave?

            “So you’re the first of the purifying virus? I must admit, I wouldn’t expect such a young girl to be carrying the most important virus,” the computer spoke. Rose took a step forward, “V-virus? C-colonel, what does he mean? What virus?” she asked, turning her pale blue gaze at the gaping man. She almost took a step back; she had never seen the Colonel lose his composure before.

            Colonel Autumn quickly recollected himself and straightened his back, “I’m sorry; I thought we agreed it was best not to tell her?” he questioned before turning to look down at Rose. “It’s not like the FEV; yours is going to change everything for the better. Ever since we first had you, we’ve been trying to perfect a virus that would make all humans immune to radiation,” he explained, giving her the simple, basic response.

            “And from what I’ve heard, we’ve been getting improvements,” the computer-president hummed happily.

            “How? Why am I-? I just… Why didn’t you tell me you were putting a virus in my body!?” she yelled as she gripped the sides of her head with her hands and stared down at the ground. If she were to make eye contact with Colonel Autumn, she would most likely end up doing something she would regret deeply.

            “President Eden, you’re upsetting the test subject. I have to get her evaluated by Dr. Lanski soon,” Colonel Autumn protested weakly. It was hardly a protest, just a statement. She could see clearly he didn’t care, he was only saying it for show.

            “Sorry, sorry," President Eden apologized. "PV-11, I would like to personally thank you for what you’re doing for America, you have no idea how great your sacrifice will be,” he said, and, if a computer could smile, she had a feeling he would be smiling at Rose. It disgusted her that they were all so willing to shoot her up with injection after injection with some virus and never tell her, and then send her out to kill for two years. She had more combat experience than most of the initiates and she was only ten years old.

            “Don’t thank me, it’s obvious I never got to have a say in this,” she spat coldly at the machine.

            “I think we’re done here,” Colonel Autumn said as he clasped a hand on Rose’s shoulder tightly, saying his goodbyes to President Eden.

            Rose obediently followed Colonel Autumn out of the room with the computer-president without saying a word even though it was bringing her physical pain to not bombard the infuriated Colonel with questions. “Permission to ask questions, Colonel?” she asked after a few minutes of silence.

            It felt like minutes had ticked away, but in reality it was just seven seconds, before he responded, “Permission granted.”

            Rose thought for a moment, many questions would further anger him, but she wanted so many questions answered and they could all be answered with: “Why?”

            He chuckled softly to himself, “Aren’t you just a girl of many words today?” he questioned, keeping his stoic expression. “To be honest, PV-11, I had hoped to make it so that we were better suited for this irradiated wasteland and when I saw you pull out that gun, I knew you were strong enough to save what is left of our humanity. All the other hosts were killed by the virus because they were too weak, we needed someone who was strong mentally and physically, which you proved when you fought back,” he said as he crossed his hands across his lap.

            “Why didn’t you ask me first?” Rose tried to push her luck. She quickly turned her gaze to her hands, “Never mind, I would never have willingly accepted that,” she said as it dawned on her why they hadn’t told her. It didn’t justify their actions; they should have taken the risk of telling her anyway.

            “I suspected as much… But, PV-11, it was never meant to be kept from you forever, just until you were old enough to understand,” Colonel Autumn said.

            “But I’m old enough to kill people?” she questioned, cocking her head to one side.

            Colonel Autumn coughed awkwardly, “I believe it’s about time for Dr. Lanski to evaluate you,” he said, getting up from behind his chair.

            “Why am I being evaluated?” Rose questioned as she followed Colonel Autumn and his two guards guided them to Dr. Lanski’s office.

            “She is interested in seeing how a child’s mind would be like after they fought in a few battles,” Colonel Autumn answered.

            “I thought we did this before…?” Rose questioned, her voice drifting off at the end.

            “You did, but she wants to do it one last time for those leaving the battlefield for good,” Colonel Autumn explained as they approached her office. He knocked on the door, “Dr. Lanski, its Colonel Autumn. I’m here with PV-11.”

            “Oh! Come in, come in!”Dr. Lanski exclaimed and Colonel Autumn led the child inside before turning to leave. She preferred to interview everyone without a superior hanging over their shoulder. “So, PV-11, how’s it been? Do you miss anything? Wanna talk about anything?” she asked in her usual overly cheerful manner.

            “Why am I here?” Rose asked.

            “Oh, well they’re worried about you, you know. They know you don’t refer to yourself by your name the Enclave gave you and aren’t happy with it. They want you to be happy with who you are, which is PV-11,” Dr. Lanski explained, not skipping a beat.

            “H-how did you know that…?” Rose questioned as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Dr. Lanski.

            Dr. Lanski wrote something down on a piece of paper before looking back up at Rose. “The surveillance cameras, dear,” she said and smiled softly at the girl.

            “I’m sorry; I just didn’t like the fact that they were controlling everything about me… I just wanted something to myself, and when I was taken from Little Lamplight, I literally had what was on me, unlike most of the kids who have some type of memory from home. The name was mine, and having it taken from me made me feel worthless,” Rose explained.

            “So you feel worthless because they gave you a different name? But yet you have shown the most improvement in a lot of skills,” Dr. Lanski commented.

            “My achievements won’t matter to me if I have no name,” Rose explained.

            “But you do have a name. The Enclave gave you a name, sweetie,” Dr. Lanski insisted.

            Rose quickly realized this wasn’t going to go anywhere fast. “Yes, you’re perfectly right, I’m sorry,” she apologized through gritted teeth.

            “Wonderful! I’m so glad you think this way!” she exclaimed happily and began writing more notes down before calling Colonel Autumn back in.

            “She’s okay to go?” Colonel Autumn asked, clasping his hands behind his back.

            “Well…” Dr. Lanski gave a small glance in Rose’s direction. “I’ll give you my notes and let you make do with them as you see fit, okay?” she smiled, ripping the paper out of her notebook and handing it to Colonel Autumn, who skimmed it and folded it up and stuck it in his pants pocket.

 

            Rose was currently lying in a hospital bed back in the same room she was in when she was eight. “Please, Colonel, don’t do this,” she cried as the last strap was tightened on her wrist.

            “What is your name, PV-11?” he questioned as doctors were hooking up the IV bag and making sure everything was ready for the newest purifying virus to be inserted into her.

            “Rose! I’m Rose!” she yelled at him, trying to desperately yank her arms, a futile attempt to wriggle out of the restraints.

            “PV-11, please! Stop resisting, you’re only hurting yourself!” one of the doctors protested.

            “Just say your name, PV-11, and this will all be better,” Colonel Autumn said calmly to the hysteric child.

            “PV-11, PV-11, PV-11! I’m PV-11! Now, please! Make them go _away_!” Rose screamed, frantic to never experience the pain she had when she was eight years old.

            “Make sure you keep the restraints tight, I don’t want her getting out.” Colonel Autumn told the doctors who had stopped checking her restraints for a brief moment.

            “But you said it would be better!” she wailed through her sobs.

            “I never said who it would be better for,” Colonel Autumn clarified before walking out of the room.


	6. Chapter Five: Liberty (2277)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves."  
> \- Henry David Thoreau

            “What?” PV-11 croaked as she looked up at the graying man that stood in front of her. She had long ago stopped caring in general and sat slumped over on the hospital bed, as she stared at him with emotionless eyes.

            “The test results have been finalized, we’ll be taking samples of your blood and extracting the cure from it next week,” Colonel Autumn said slowly to allow the broken specimen process everything he had told her.

            “And then what? Your lab rat will be of no use to you, better to just kill it than have it strapped down wasting resources,” PV-11 spat as she narrowed her eyes at him. Colonel Autumn sighed, “PV-11, you had a lot of potential, it’s a shame you had to ruin it.”

            “ _I_ ruined _it?_ ” PV-11 laughed, if she had the ability to move her hands right now, she would have wiped away the tears that had betrayed her rather emotionless composure, but her hands were handcuffed to the hospital bed. “Do you listen to yourself, Colonel? _You_ ruined _me!_ I did everything you asked and then some! It was your mistakes that killed me!” she screamed at him, she didn’t care how immature she sounded.

            “Nobody is killing you, PV-11,” Colonel Autumn said as he stared down at the subject.

            “Yet. I won’t be killed until you have what you want, after that…” PV-11 let her voice trail off before she giggled maniacally, “Once you have what you want, its game over for PV-11.”

            “Is that what you think?” Colonel Autumn asked solemnly as he stood up from his chair beside PV-11.

            “No, oh no no no. It’s not what I _think_ Colonel Autumn, it’s what I _know!_ I saw the reports, _Augustus;_ you wish to have me _terminated_. I _could_ have worked alongside the older children in the deathclaws, but you _requested_ to have me killed! So stop hiding from it and face me, Colonel, tell it to my face! Did you or did you not request for my execution after you have taken everything you wanted from me?” PV-11 spat the question out as she stared him dead in the eye.

            Colonel Autumn sighed, “Yes, I ordered your execution,” he admitted reluctantly before he turned away from PV-11 and walked towards the door.

            “So you’ll manage to get all the blood you’d need from me in one sitting?” PV-11 asked, but Colonel Autumn didn’t respond to her question as he walked out of the room.

 

            “Did you ever regret anything?” PV-11 asked Dr. Johnson as she stared off into the wall while he checked her IV bags and made sure everything was stable.

            “Do I? Well, I’ve regretted a few minor things, but nothing life changing major – I hope,” he replied before he glanced down at the subject, “Why? Do you regret something?”

            “I regret defending myself from that man, Officer Olivers, I should have let him kill me,” she hummed softly.

            “Why do you think that?” Dr. Johnson questioned, concerned for her mental health.

            “Because,” PV-11 began, looking up at Dr. Johnson, “Either way, I die in the end. At least I would have died with people I know and not alone for a cause that will only get to a few people,” she answered resentfully, unashamed to hide her bitterness towards the Enclave.

            “Nonsense, PV-11, it’ll get to all of us,” Dr. Johnson chimed in and grinned at the strapped down subject.

            “Define ‘us,’” PV-11 grumbled as she turned her gaze to the worn-out sheets.

            “The Enclave, of course, and possibly those still in their vaults,” Dr. Johnson responded happily as he turned away from her and headed towards the sink.

            “Exactly, it will never get to people like me. I’m an abomination and it will never go to us, which is wrong and disgusting. I am the host of this virus, shouldn’t I get a say in who gets it?” she asked, her voice betrayed her and broke at the end.

            Dr. Johnson washed his hands, “I believe that’s up to Colonel Autumn to decide,” he responded as he dried his hands and turned around to face the subject. “You should get some sleep, they’re letting you walk around a bit tomorrow,” he announced as he puffed his chest out some as he spoke.

            “T-they are? H-how did you-? No, no… It doesn’t matter! You got me out!” PV-11 exclaimed happily and if she could have moved around, she would have hugged the man who had remained by her side the longest in the everlasting hell in Raven Rock.

            “I remember how much you would talk about L1-L1 whenever I check up on you, so I managed to get you and her to have some time together,” Dr. Johnson said as he grinned at his accomplishment.

            “Thank you, Dr. Johnson, it means a lot,” PV-11 said as she smiled broadly up at him and the Enclave scientist-turned-doctor nodded in her direction.

            “Get some rest, PV-11,” Dr. Johnson said quietly before he turned off the lights in the room walked and left her alone again.

            Most of the time when PV-11 wasn’t being visited by Colonel Autumn or checked on by Dr. Johnson, she was all alone and, after a while of the isolation it had taken a toll on her. She had begun to daydream just about twenty-four/seven in an effort to hold on to her memories before Raven Rock. One of her favorite memories was when she had trained with Shrimp.

 

_“H-hi!” Rose squeaked, looking down at the shorter boy._

_“Are you ready to learn how to shoot a gun?” MacCready questioned as he handed her an unloaded 10mm pistol. “We could start with…”_

_Rose had stopped paying attention to what he was saying and instead stared more at the pistol in her hands. Was she really going to do this? She’s never had a reason to learn self-defense before, but here she was, about to leave Little Lamplight for an expedition and needed that training._

_“So which lesson do you want to start with first?” MacCready asked after he wrapped up his long speech about guns and the importance of learning self-defense._

_Rose blinked once, twice, three times before she began to speak up, “We could do whatever you think would be best for me…” she suggested meekly, afraid to tell him that she had zoned out at the very beginning._

_“I want to see how you shoot,” MacCready decided on with little thought on it. “Watch me,” he said and loaded his gun up with the proper bullets and aimed at the poorly built target a couple yards away. He managed to hit in the second and first out of four rings._

_“That was amazing!” Rose gasped as she turned to face him with wide eyes, “Can I try?” she asked excitedly as she held out her weapon for him to load._

_“Fuck if I know, wasn’t this the point of me training you?” MacCready questioned as he flicked Rose on her head and took the gun from her so he could load it, but made sure to go slower this time so he could explain everything that he didn’t the first time._

_“R-right…sorry Shrimp!” Rose yelped as MacCready placed the gun back in her hands and now that she saw what it could do, it felt cold and foreign in her small hands. It was something that has killed before; it had spilled blood and its bullets were as small as loose pebbles in the caves. It made death feel small to her if something that small could end a person’s life in a heartbeat._

_“Are you going to stare at it all day or are you going to shoot it?” MacCready huffed as he crossed his arms across his chest. Rose sighed and lifted the gun up to eye level and shot it with no hesitation, but the kick from the gun caused her to hit herself in the face._

_“Ah!” Rose screamed as she dropped the gun and her hands went immediately to cover her nose that, luckily, hadn’t started to bleed. “Why didn’t you tell me it would do that?” she whined as she rubbed the already bruised spot._

_“Sorry, I should have warned you…” MacCready said as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “But, hey, at least you hit the clay…ten feet away from the target,” he said lightheartedly in an attempt to make her feel slightly better._

_“Great, I’ll never get this,” Rose groaned as she threw herself on to the ground._

 

            PV-11 was thrown out of the memory by the door opening rather harshly, “PV-11,” the familiar voice greeted her. She had heard that voice too many times to have to look over to see who it was.

            “Hello Colonel Autumn,” PV-11 said bitterly as she stared up at the ceiling, she didn’t bother to look in his general direction.

            “We’re here to take you to meet with L1-L1, it appears she’s taken a liking to you and you only because she won’t work with anyone else,” Colonel Autumn stated as Dr. Johnson hurriedly freed her bound limbs.

            “She may be in the shape of a monster, but I can assure you, Colonel, that monsters lurk inside of us,” PV-11 hissed as she slipped off the bed and onto her feet. She almost stumbled and fell onto the floor if it weren’t for Dr. Johnson’s harsh grip on her to keep her steady.

            “We’ll see how long you keep that belief,” Colonel Autumn said as he nodded to Dr. Johnson and led them out of the room.

            “I don’t see myself changing it anytime soon. It’s the Enclave who is killing me, not the deathclaws,” PV-11 mumbled to herself and he almost didn’t catch it.

            “You’ve outlived your usefulness for the Enclave,” Colonel Autumn retorted dryly. _He will always find any means to justify ordering my execution._

            “I can still fight, I was one of the best,” PV-11 spat as the soldier behind her nudged her forward because she had started to walk much slower compared to the adults.

            “No, it would be wrong to make you fight on the battlefield. Dr. Lanksi has persisted that you are too psychologically damaged to be on the field again,” Colonel Autumn admitted, and PV-11 couldn’t tell if he was or wasn’t telling the truth anymore so she had to force herself to accept his words. A part of her was afraid that if she continued her bickering with him, he would call off the meeting just moments before she was able to be reunited with her beloved friend.

            “Colonel, if I may,” Dr. Johnson spoke up.

            “You may, Dr. Johnson,” Colonel Autumn said as he led them down another corridor.

            “Thank you, Sir,” Dr. Johnson said before he voiced his thoughts, “We are currently lacking scientists and doctors, and it appears that the animals, as in deathclaws specifically, love her. What if we trained her to work alongside the animals for the Enclave, that way we could spare her life and have an endless supply of the PV-11.”

            Colonel Autumn stopped mid walk and turned around to better face Dr. Johnson, “The execution has already been scheduled,” he said tightly as he looked down at the Enclave scientist.

            “Y-yes, Colonel, I understand,” Dr. Johnson said quietly, and his voice shook slightly.

            Colonel Autumn approached a door and made sure the keypad was obscured from PV-11’s view before he punched in the passcode to get into the room. “L1-L1 is in here. Officer Olivers will keep you company in here.”

            “Dr. Johnson isn’t coming with me?” PV-11 questioned. A strong part of her did not want to be in the same room as Officer Olivers, while a small part simply didn’t care anymore.

            “Come along PV-11, you’re wasting your time,” Officer Olivers said coldly as he walked into the room, obviously not happy with the situation either.

            PV-11 reluctantly followed her superior into the room with the deathclaw and gave one last glance at Dr. Johnson. “How has L1-L1 been?” she asked as she forced herself to turn her attention to the officer who had shut the door behind them.

            “See for yourself,” Officer Olivers grunted as he led the confused subject further into the room.

            “L1-L1!” PV-11 cried excitedly as she rushed towards the caged deathclaw. Said creature rose up in her cage and walked closer towards PV-11. “It’s been so long, I can’t believe it, it feels like forever since I’ve last seen you! You’ve grown so much,” she fawned over the tense creature similar to how one would treat a puppy.

            “You have exactly forty-five minutes, don’t waste it,” Officer Olivers hissed at PV-11 as he sat down on a bench.

            “Don’t worry, I won’t,” she hummed as she turned her attention back on L1-L1.

 

            Officer Olivers was messaged via walky-talky at the forty-minute mark, which he made sure PV-11 was out of earshot before he replied back.

            PV-11 giggled quietly, “L1-L1, it’s okay, I’m just going to pet you,” she cooed softly as she stuck her hand into the female deathclaw’s cage, which caused said deathclaw to back up shortly before unexpectedly resting her head on the subject’s fragile hands.

            “PV-11, we have to go,” Officer Olivers suddenly said as he snatched the subject from the deathclaw’s reach.

            “I still have five minutes! You said forty-five minutes! I have five minutes left with her!” PV-11 cried and tried to wriggle out of Officer Olivers’ tight grasp.

            Officer Olivers grabbed PV-11 and slammed her against the wall, “Look, kid, there’s been a security breach. I need to get you back to safety,” he insisted as he reached forward to grab her again.

            “No!” PV-11 cried as she ran out of his grasp and towards the deathclaw cage.

            “PV-11 – Rose stop!” Officer Olivers’ voice rose as he realized PV-11 was trying to open the cage, oblivious to the fact that he had accidentally referred to her by her original name and not the name the Enclave had assigned to her.

            “My name,” PV-11 huffed as she finally pressed the right button and slammed her fist down hard on it, “is PV-11.”

            The man froze, he only had a baton on him, they hadn’t thought of this happening. “PV-11, please,” he whispered as he backed up slowly. “Press the green button,” he ordered quietly. Due to the security breach, it would take too long for him to open the doors and escape.

            “No,” PV-11 said stubbornly as she crossed her arms across her chest in a child-like manner. L1-L1 cautiously made her way out of the cage and sniffed around before she locked her eyes with Officer Olivers’ own petrified eyes. The deathclaw immediately struck down on the poorly equipped officer and ripped her claws deep into his flesh before she raked them down his spine, which killed him instantly. “L1-L1!” PV-11 cried happily as she ran toward her and stared up at the freed creature.

            The door suddenly opened and revealed an unfamiliar, wary blonde teenager in metal armor, minus the helmet. She stared down at the confused subject, “Who are you?” the strange woman questioned as she arched an eyebrow.

            “PV-11,” she said innocently, which the woman squinted her eyes at her when she heard that.

            “I’m not asking for a code that these asshats most likely gave you, I’m asking for your actual name,” she scoffed, still unsure if she should walk into the room with the child, freed deathclaw, and dead soldier or take her chances in the halls.

            “Oh, um…” PV-11 thought for a moment, it had been a while since she had freely said her name “Rose, i-it’s Rose,” she replied, the word had lacked all meaning it used to have when it rolled off her tongue.

            “I’m Vanessa, now, quick question,” she said as she waited for Rose to nod, which she immediately did, “what’s with the dead body and deathclaw?” she questioned.

            “T-that’s a long story…” PV-11 stuttered as she rubbed her feet against the metal floor, her cheeks tinted red as she began to feel embarrassed with her choice of actions.

            “Is the deathclaw…friendly?” Vanessa asked as she tossed a skeptical glance at PV-11. She had killed many deathclaws and had yet to find a ‘friendly’ deathclaw.

            “She’s nice to me, so I think she’s friendly… But Officer Olivers was tossing me around, and I don’t think she liked that, to be honest,” PV-11 replied, still unsure if the young woman was a friend or a foe.

            “Do you want to get out of here?” Vanessa asked as she took a small, cautious step closer to the girl. “I can get you and your friend out of here. That is if you want to leave here. Just say yes and I’ll have you somewhere the Enclave will never be able to harm you again,” she stated calmly and held out her hand for the girl to take.

            Vanessa barely had to finish her declaration before the young girl had jumped into her arms, “Yes, please! Get me out of here!” she practically cried into her arms.

            The older teen smiled softly at the young girl, “Of course, Rose. You’re safe from them as long as I’m with you, okay?” she murmured into the girl’s ear as she trembled in her arms.

            “Please… Just get me out of here,” Rose cried, unable to stop the tears from coming out any longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! My old laptop finally reached its end, and I couldn't find a flash drive so I could transfer the files over until recently.


	7. Chapter Six: Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control of what you don't."  
> \- Steve Maraboli

            “Good evening Vanessa,” was the first thing PV-11 heard. She hadn’t fully woken up yet, but she could hear people walk around outside of the room she was in.

            “Is she fit for visits?” the familiar voice questioned the first, unfamiliar voice.

            “Yes, but take it easy on her,” the soft voice of the unknown woman advised the woman.

            Vanessa didn’t reply to the person she had been talking to, instead, she welcomed herself into the young girl’s room where said girl had sat up on her hospital bed and had been patiently waiting for the familiar blonde woman who had freed her from the Enclave. “Good, you’re awa-”

            “What happened to L1-L1?” PV-11 interrupted as she kept her bored gaze on the woman.

            Vanessa looked around the room before she spotted a chair in a corner of the room. She dragged the chair up against PV-11’s bed and sat in it. “Well, you get right to it,” she chuckled lightly as she flicked a golden-blonde strand of hair out of her face. “Your friend is safe, she’s…chained up for now. Once you’re permitted to leave the bed I can take you to go see her,” she offered.

            Vanessa arched an eyebrow, “Just that I found you in Raven Rock before it went off. Nothing major, I’m sure you’ll explain it to them in due time, kid,” she explained. PV-11’s eyes immediately widened and she opened her mouth as if she wanted to speak, but she couldn’t find it in herself to speak out loud.

            “W-what do you m-mean…went off?” PV-11 stuttered once she found her voice. She refused to look Vanessa in the eye as she repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists. Mixed feelings swelled through her, should she be happy the Enclave was gone or upset that dozens of children were killed?

            “Well, the place went off, I guess there was a bomb in it or whatever and it went off after I finished talking to that president-computer,” Vanessa clarified herself.

            “Who else, ah, got out?” PV-11 asked. A part of her feared the answer to that simple question, but another part of her had to know. _Did any of my friends make it out? Please let at least someone I know be alright!_

            “As far as I know, we were the only ones to escape, but I’m sure there are patrols and such still out there, but you don’t have to worry about them. The Brotherhood of Steel has promised to look after you,” Vanessa grinned and she spread her arms out in her own personal success.

            “It sounds like you have friends in high places,” the young girl stated, returning back to her blank expression. _I just have to hope that one of the child squads were out there before Raven Rock went down._

            “Well, I don’t mean to brag,” the teen said and laughed lightly before her eyes brightened at a sudden thought. “Hey! There’s another tiny person around here, what if you two had a play-”

            “With all due respect, I haven’t been a kid ever since the Enclave took me in,” PV-11 stated rather coldly as she interrupted the eccentric woman for the second time.

            Vanessa frowned in defeat, “Well, what about just hanging around him since you two are the only small people in the area?” she asked as she gave PV-11 a small smile.

            “Possibly,” PV-11 sighed as she realized that going along with what Vanessa wanted was the best way to get her to stop pestering her about it. “Describe the other ‘small person’ to me, please.”

            “Well, his name is Arthur Maxson and he’s about your height, sits around most of the day and writes stories, has a _huge_ crush on this girl, Sentinel Sarah Lyons, and…that’s about it,” she said cheerfully as a knock was heard at the door.

            “Is she up?” an older male who had yet to enter the room asked from the other side of the closed door.

            “Yeah, she’s up. Why? You coming in?” Vanessa asked, and she turned her attention to the mystery person behind the door.

            “Yes, and a few others,” the man said as he opened the door to reveal an older man, who Rose assumed had been him speaking, a blonde woman with a high ponytail, and a boy about her height who must have been the Arthur Maxson that Vanessa had just mentioned.

            “Hi,” PV-11 whispered as she suddenly found it hard to speak, she hadn’t been in front of so many warm and friendly faces since her time at Little Lamplight, it almost made her want to cry with relief.

            “So this is Rose from Raven Rock?” the old man who had yet to introduce himself asked as he walked toward her and Vanessa.

            “PV-11,” she quickly corrected. A part of her half-expected Colonel Autumn to jump out of nowhere – if he was even still alive – and raise hell on her because they had called her by the name the Enclave had stripped away from her once she had been abducted by them.

            “Kid, what did I say? You aren’t with the Enclave anymore. You don’t have to be bound by that ‘name’ they gave you,” Vanessa immediately shot at the startled girl.

            “Right, sorry. I guess my name is Rose then,” Rose murmured. _If only you all knew what was in my blood, you’d all call me a virus and kill me for what’s in my veins, just like what they were going to do to me._ At that moment, she decided that she would never tell a living soul about what they had truly done to her and why she had been separated from the other kids. _I don’t even think Vanessa knew that they were forcing kids to do their dirty work._

            “What did they do to you?” the boy asked, his head was tilted to one side and he genuinely sounded concerned for her.

            “I-I don’t want…want to talk about it right now,” Rose mumbled as she shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind of her last two years in the Enclave.

            “That’s understandable, you went through quite a lot in there I’m sure,” the unfamiliar woman nodded to her.

_You don’t know the half of it._ The thought rang through her head as she continued to watch the boy as the others discussed her mental state. Would he have lasted in the Enclave? Probably not, he’s far too weak. _Would he have killed a person if it meant he would live another day, even if that person was just trying to make a living in this wasteland? Probably, he may be physically weak, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to live._

            “Why don’t you go and show her around the Citadel, Arthur?” the older man asked as he patted the boy on the back.

            “W-wait, has she been cleared to go yet?” Vanessa questioned as she rested a hand on Rose’s sickly pale skin. _I haven’t seen the sun in a long time, I think I’ve forgotten what it felt like._ She thought as she held out her hand and stared at it, she couldn’t recall what it felt like to be warmed by the sun and not by the blankets they gave her.

            “Right, right,” the man nodded before turning to the other woman, “Sarah, go and ask Cade if she’s permitted to leave her bed now,” he ordered.

            Sarah nodded and quickly exited the room, only to return in seconds with who Rose assumed was Cade, “Elder Lyons, I need to examine her first,” he chuckled as he weaved his way between Vanessa and Arthur.

            “Elder?” Rose accidentally questioned aloud, and she squinted her eyes slightly at the supposed Elder Lyons because she was unsure what any of their titles meant. _What is Elder supposed to mean? He’s old but is it more of a title or an achievement for living so long?_

            “It means I’m the leader of the Brotherhood of Steel,” Elder Lyons answered as he gave a smile at the curious young girl.

            “Okay Rose, I just need to do a few tests-”

            “No,” she said defiantly, “no more tests!”

            “Rose, I’m not going to hurt you. I just need you to follow this stick,” with that said, Cade held up a tall and skinny stick that he pulled out from his back pocket, “with both of your eyes. Can you do that?” he questioned the girl, which she hesitantly nodded. “Good, good.” He moved the stick first left to right, which she easily did, and then began to move it up and down, which she did just as easily as she had done before.

            “Is that all?” she asked sheepishly.

            “One more, I just need you to answer a few questions,” Cade said as he turned around and walked towards a cabinet on the other side of the room and grabbed a pad, a pen, and a thermometer, and walked back towards her.

            “What type of questions?” Rose asked, and she could feel the dread and uncertainty seep into her already.

            “What year is it?” Cade asked, ignoring her question.

            “2277…?” she said, but it came out as a question.

            “Are you sure?” he asked as he raised an eyebrow at the girl.

            “Y-yes, I’m sure,” she said after she thought for a second or two. _If I’ve been doing my math correctly it’s been approximately four years since I was kidnapped, that should make it somewhere around 2277. I think._

            “Alright,” Cade said as he scribbled something down on the pad. “How old are you?”

            “I’m twelve years old,” she said as she mentally did the math in her head. She had focused more on the year, not her age. So long as she was young enough for the Enclave, she was okay in her books for the most part.

            “Alright and now just let me check your temperature and you should be all good to go,” Cade said as he brought the thermometer into Rose’s line of vision. “Open your mouth and-”

            “I know how a thermometer works, Cade,” Rose said with little to no emotion. She had had basic exams like this one many times before, this was nothing she wasn’t used to.

            Cade’s eyes widened slightly at her response before he quickly nodded at her, “Right, sorry about that…here you go,” he said as he handed the thermometer to her.

            Rose stuck the thermometer under her tongue and waited until Cade advised her to take it out, “It says…97 degrees,” she said as she showed it to Cade.

            “Alright, you’re good to go then,” Cade said as he took the thermometer from her and stepped back.

            “So, uh, Arthur, right?” she questioned as she slipped off of the bed, which she landed with a small _oompf._

            “Yeah, come on! I’ll show you around the Citadel,” the boy offered as excitement lit up his eyes. He hadn’t been able to interact with any kids since he had arrived here.

            “A-alright,” Rose said and dashed after Arthur. “Hey, slow sown!” she protested as she quickly found it hard to keep up with him. The young boy responded with by immediately skidding to a halt, which caused her to crash into him. “Hey, what was that for?” Arthur snapped as he leaped up and turned around to face Rose, who was currently sitting down on the ground rubbing her head from where their heads collided.

            “You didn’t have to stop _completely,”_ Rose whined as she slowly got up from the cold floor.

            “Oh, uh… sorry,” Arthur mumbled and his face turned several shades of red in embarrassment, but he quickly continued into a different room. “This is where the scribes work…and stuff,” he said as he waved his right hand towards the many scribes that were walking around the room continuing on with their daily tasks.

            “So the Brotherhood of Steel has different groups in it?” Rose asked. She wasn't sure what to make of 'elders,' 'sentinels' or ‘scribes.’

            “Sort of, I mean you could be a scribe and collect and organize technology, or be a soldier,” Arthur explained as an older scribe ushered the two children out of the room. “Personally, I want to be a soldier,” he added in as he pointed at himself and smiled before he turned to face Rose. “What about you? What would you like to be?” he asked and tried to hide the eagerness in his voice.

            “W-well, if you guys will allow me to join… I’ve already had soldier training, so I guess I wouldn’t mind being a soldier again,” she admitted and then rubbed her arm as she looked at the ground, suddenly she felt very small and insignificant.

            “We could be soldiers together!” Arthur exclaimed happily, oblivious to the fact that she admitted to already having soldier training.

            “H-hey Arthur?” she asked as she stuttered slightly.

            “Yeah?” he asked as he led her out of the Citadel.

            “How do you become an Elder?” she asked, still not sure what exactly an Elder does since she didn’t fully understand what Colonel Autumn did or if he was even truly the leader of the Enclave.

            “Well, Elder Lyons became Elder this Brotherhood of Steel branch because of a discovery he made while on the battlefield,” Arthur explained as he opened the door to the Citadel bailey.

            Rose immediately remembered what Vanessa had said about L1-L1 and that she had offered to show her her friend, “Hey…Arthur?” she asked as she slowly followed him out into the bailey. She winced as the bright afternoon sunlight made contact with her eyes; she wasn’t used to the outside light after the years she spent locked up in Raven Rock.

            “What is it?” Arthur sighed, already he was beginning to feel slightly annoyed with the girl and her many interruptions.

           “Do you know what happened to my friend, L1-L1, she’s a deathclaw-”

            “Oh yeah! Vanessa wanted to show you her, but I get to beat her!” Arthur exclaimed happily and then bolted over to the other side of the bailey, “Follow me!” he yelled over his shoulder. Rose groaned inwardly before she began to chase after him. She was not in the mood to run at all, especially after the fact that she had been chained up for the majority of the past two years. “I’m surprised that she hasn’t tried to lash out at us,” he said as he stared up at the deathclaw once they had reached Lili.

            “She won’t lash out unless you give her a reason to! I lived with her in a cage for almost two weeks and never once brought harm to me,” Rose proclaimed before she winced at what she had just said. _I shouldn’t have said that. I should_ not _have said that._

            Arthur gaped at her, “Th-they… They locked you up with a deathclaw?” he asked and found himself shocked at what the girl admitted. He knew they were awful, but to do something like that?

            “So? So what if they did? I’m still alive, aren’t I?” Rose huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest.

            “B-but…”Arthur stuttered and trailed off, not sure how to ask his question without angering her further. “They tried to kill you?” he asked quietly.

            “It’s not what you think…” Rose whispered, already she could feel the tears that threatened to spill out at any minute, “It’s not what you think,” she repeated in an attempt to sound more convincing, but even she couldn’t believe herself.

            “Then why would they lock you in the cage with a deathclaw?” Arthur asked as he didn’t believe a word she had said.

            “B-because…” Rose began, she stuttered slightly before she took in a deep breath, “Because I refused to let them kill an innocent person. Because I was in their way of killing more of us. Because I was tired of killing innocent people. The list can go on as to why they locked me in that cage, and I couldn’t even begin to tell you which one is the one that made them decide to do it,” she managed to say before she burst into tears. She was confused, lost, and, more than likely; all of the people she had befriended in Raven Rock were dead. “I just want to go home!” she yelled in between her sobs.

            “What’s going on over here?” a man asked as he stopped from assisting initiates train.

            “I don’t know, Paladin Gunny” Arthur admitted, “I was just asking why the Enclave locked her-”

            “Please shut up,” Rose whimpered as she buried her head in her hands.

            Paladin Gunny looked between the two children before he led Arthur out of Rose’s earshot so he could explain what happened and not further upset her. He came back toward her once he had heard Arthur’s side. “Rose,” he began and knelt down in front of her. “He told me what the Enclave did to you, and it sickens me that they would do that to a child. You need to stick it to them, show them they mean nothing to you, that they can’t control your life. Show them you’re stronger than they could ever dream of being by being whoever you want to be and not looking back on them,” he said before he stood back up and looked down at Rose, who had mostly calmed down now.

            “Thank you,” Rose mumbled but she refused to look him in the eye.

            “Look me in the eye when you talk, Squire!” Paladin Gunny barked, he had turned a complete 360 on her.

            “Thank you, sir!” Rose immediately yelled out and saluted him, and her training with the Enclave came back into her mind. _They won’t control me, I will be stronger._

            “Are you okay?” Arthur asked as he shot her a worried look.

            “Yeah, I’m fine, thanks,” Rose said before she stopped him. “How old do Squires have to be before they can become soldiers?” she asked.

            “Well, you could be a squire right now, although I would just wait and become an initiate in two more years,” Arthur replied with a shrug and walked away from Rose.

            Rose sighed as she watched him enter the Citadel before she walked back to L1-L1. _No, what did Dr. Johnson call her before? Lili? That’s right…_ If she wasn’t a scrambled code, then neither was L1-L1. “Just wait, Lili, I’ll be a soldier again,” she hummed as she sat in front of the chained up deathclaw.

 

            A couple of weeks had passed since her arrival into the Citadel and she had already been made into a squire. Arthur had decided she was a bit weird and, ultimately, avoided her for the most part. Vanessa had hardly stopped by after she had become a squire because she was constantly being sent on more and more missions by the Elder and other important figures in the Brotherhood of Steel.

            Currently, she was helping a Scribe catalog and organize a collection of pre-war books. One of which had caught her attention, and it brought her physical discomfort to put it down. It was called _The War of the Roses,_ and it described two royal families, the Lancaster’s, which were the house of the red roses, and the York’s, the house of the white roses.

            “Alright, if you help me finish these last books, I’ll let you borrow that book for the night, okay?” the young Scribe chuckled after she realized Rose really enjoyed the book.

            “Okay!” Rose exclaimed happily and then followed the woman back into the room with the terminals. The rest of the cataloging and organizing went by in a breeze and before she knew it, she was back in her shared quarters with Arthur. Elder Lyons and a few others had been trying to figure out if they should turn Arthur Maxson’s room into the Squires quarters or let him have his own, separate area.

            After she had changed into a nighttime dress, she pulled out the book and quickly delved into it, she wasn’t sure what had drawn her towards the book. Perhaps it was the roses? Or maybe it was the fact that the book placed a heavy emphasis on the royal Lancaster and York family, while she was just Rose. Rose of what? _Rose of Nothing._

            “Do the Scribes know you have that?” Arthur asked as he settled into his bed.

            “Hm? Oh, yeah, one of the Scribes I worked with earlier today allowed me to have this for the night,” she replied as she held up the book for him to better see it and not lose her page. The only reason why she could read the book was because of Dr. Johnson, he had helped teach her how to read beyond the basics she had learned at Little Lamplight.

            “Well, don’t read it all night, Paladin Gunny is going to train us tomorrow,” Arthur advised and was about to roll over and go to sleep when Rose stopped him.

            “Hey Arthur,” she began as she quickly memorized the page number she was on before she looked up at him, “how did you get your last name?” she asked sincerely.

            The boy would have laughed if it had been anyone else, “I don’t know, my parents’ had Maxson for a last name and since I was their child, I was given that last name as well. Didn’t your parents have a last name?” he asked.

            “Well… I never knew them, to be honest. I grew up in a place for only kids before the Enclave took me,” Rose explained, it didn’t bother her to talk about the lack of parents in her life, it bothered her to talk about the lack of a last name because everywhere she went after Little Lamplight – even in the Enclave – there was a heavy emphasis on last names.

            “If it's that important to you, why don’t you make up your own last name?” Arthur asked as he yawned.

            Rose hummed to herself as she looked back at the book; the Lancaster’s were the house or the red roses. She had red hair and her name was Rose, maybe she could become Rose Lancaster? No, that's a bit too obvious... “I’ll be Roselyn Lancaster,” she declared quietly, oblivious to the fact that her roommate was already dead asleep.

 

            It was the next morning and she was about to have her daily meeting with the Brotherhood of Steel doctor, Cade. Apparently, he was new to the Brotherhood of Steel and joined shortly before Vanessa took her to the Citadel.

            “Good morning, Rose,” Cade greeted the young girl as she walked into the clinic.

            “Actually…” Rose hesitated.

            “Yes?” Cade asked as he arched an eyebrow at her.

            “I was thinking about the Enclave and I know they don’t like to give things up so easily… I want to change my name to Roselyn Lancaster, it’s not much, but it’s enough to throw them off for a little bit,” she explained, her cheeks flushed a light shade of red as she told Cade. _What if he thinks it’s a stupid idea? Or worse, what if he thinks my last name is – no, nonono. This is who I am now, to hell with what he thinks._

            “That’s good, but what about your friend out there? I’m sure they’ll notice the Brotherhood’s new pet out there named L1-L1. Do you want to change her name as well?” Cade asked as he leaned up against a counter in the clinic.

            Rose nodded sheepishly, “Dr. Johnson and I used to call her Lili,” she said. “We never did it around anyone else, so I want to continue calling her Lili,” she decided.

            “Alright, if that’s all…” Cade said as he quickly jotted the note down on a piece of paper. “You don’t have to continue with these meetings anymore, Roselyn. You’ve checked out on all the subjects you’ve had issues with, but I will require you to come in every evening after lunch or before dinner to take your medications,” he advised as he dismissed her.

            “Thank you, Cade,” Rose said as she walked out of the room and went to return the book that she had borrowed from the scribe. She trusted Cade would get the information she wanted changed to be changed. It may take a few days, but she knew it would eventually get done.


	8. Chapter Seven: Innovate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change."  
> \- Brené Brown

_Rose held her scope up to her eye and watched the makeshift town come to life. Today was the third day of watching them and now she and her squad were going to go in for the kill. It was much easier than expected. All they had to do was befriend the small boy and then wait again until nightfall. There they would have the safety of the night and a group of adults completely off guard._

_She gave a nod to DN-93, and the little boy nodded back. Everything was going to go well, so long as the others stayed behind. That was the plan. DN-93 was to befriend the young boy and then they were to wait for him to start the slaughter fest._

_Once the moon had risen way up in the sky, she heard a strangled scream come from the poorly built shack. She and the other four kids quickly rose up, “PX-03 and T2-B6 stay and snipe those attempting to flee. FI-71 and UQ-37, we’re going to go in and assist DN-93,” she ordered._

_On the battlefield, she could see everything more clearly. DN-93 was already killed, his body was broken and battered, but that wasn’t what killed him, it was knife lodged in his ear that had been the final straw. Rose narrowed her eyes as she lifted her gun, she wasn’t going to let these abominations live, especially after what they had done to her friend._

_“Mama!” A wail came from behind Rose and she immediately whipped her head around, her gun already pointed at the small child._ Never harm children. Only kill the adults. _The old order barked in her head. Instead, she moved her gun behind the small boy and shot the boy’s mother in the head, her blood and brain matter spraying on the wall behind her and her body fell to the ground in a haphazard mess._

_“You aren’t a target,” Rose simply said as she danced away from him in search for the other adults._

_“Don’t move!” The boy screamed as he pointed his own gun at Rose. He was trembling terribly and could barely keep the gun on her._

_Rose turned around just in time to see a flash and then felt the searing pain as the bullet pierced her stomach. Instantly, she let out a bloodcurdling scream._

            “Rose! Rose!” the boy yelled as he shook her.

            “Sh-Shrimp…?” she questioned as she attempted to wriggle out of his tight grasp on her shoulders.

            “What? No, it’s Arthur. Are you okay? You were screaming and crying in your sleep…” he explained as he backed away from her to give her room to breathe. “I didn’t know what to do.”

            With no hesitation, she quickly touched the corners of her eyes and, sure enough, they were wet from tears. “I…” her voice trailed off before she gave a weak cough, “I’m fine, I promise,” she lied as she smiled softly at her younger roommate. “Thank you,” she told him sincerely, she was grateful for him waking her up from her nightmare.

            “Well, if you say so…” he pondered for a moment, but didn’t buy what she had said. “You’re welcome,” he said with a small nod, he still didn’t feel too confident if that was the best decision to make. “Hey, can I tell you something?” Arthur asked as he slipped off her bed and began to make the very short walk back to his own bed.

            “Yeah, go ahead,” she said, part of her was glad he was talking to her instead of leaving her alone to think on whatever she could have dreamed that had affected her so deeply. She was grateful for his distraction.

            “I don’t want to be Elder. Everyone keeps looking at me like it’s my destiny or something, but they never take the time to look at what I’ve accomplished. They just see my last name and automatically think I have to be an Elder just because of who I’m related too,” Arthur sighed as he collapsed back onto his bunk, and his feet dangled off of the side.

            Rose stared at him as she sat up, becoming Elder was something she expected he wanted to be; not because of what his last name was – the last name Maxson had little to no significance to her – but because of how he always followed the Lyons around. “I get it,” she finally said after she had assessed his confession. “The kids back at Raven Rock used to look up to me because I was the first the Enclave took in and all that, it seemed like everyone expected me to be the best, but you want to know why?” she asked.

            “Why?” he asked as he propped himself up on his elbows and met her gaze.

            “It was because I had the attention of Colonel Autumn. I think that, yeah okay your blood has a part in this, but who you’re choosing to hang out with also has a big impact on how people think of you and because you’re always hanging out with the Lyons, people expect you to be great and do great things,” Rose explained her opinion as she remembered how the kids had treated her before and after they realized the Enclave had a special interest in her.

            “So what you’re saying is, is that I should spend more time with you so that people can start treating me like a boring scribe-wannabe,” Arthur teased and tossed a devilish smirk in her direction.

            Rose narrowed her eyes at Arthur and chucked the closest thing she could reach for straight into his face, which just so happened to be her only pillow. “You jerk, scribes aren’t boring!” she huffed before she collapsed against her mattress and rolled over. She was done talking for tonight. It didn’t last long before she slowly rolled back over and stared at Arthur, though. “Hey, psst, Arthur,” she whispered.

            “Go to sleep,” he groaned as he rolled over to face the wall.

            “Easier said than done without a pillow,” Rose shot back. She was a bit too tired and exhausted to play these games with him at the moment.

            “Then you shouldn’t have tossed it at me,” Arthur said as he rolled over to face her, he had her pillow clutched tightly in his hands.

            “Just give me my pillow,” Rose hissed at him as she sat up.

            “No, you tossed it at me!” Arthur retorted as he pressed the pillow tighter against his body, “You aren’t getting it back tonight!” he declared.

            Rose arched a brow at him, “I will count to five and if I don’t have my pillow by then, I’m telling Sentinel Sarah Lyons how big of a crush you have on her,” she threatened him, and, if it weren’t so dark in the room, she would have seen the dark blush that crept over Arthur’s face.

            “Y-you woul-”

            “Five.” Rose interrupted and stared at Arthur with tired eyes that said ‘try me,’ if he could see the look in her eyes that is.

            “We aren’t kids anymore, this is-”

            “Four.”

            “I don’t be-”

            “Three.”

            “Alright, alright!” Arthur exclaimed as he chucked the pillow at Rose.

            “Thank you!” Rose said cheerfully as she began to immediately reposition her pillow in its rightful place on her bed.

            “H-how did you even know?” Arthur asked meekly, too ashamed to even look in Rose’s direction.

            “Easy,” Rose began, “I hacked your terminal,” she explained with a shrug of her shoulders before she lay back down.

            “H-hey!” Arthur exclaimed and immediately sat back up.

            “Relax, I kind of like your story. It was cute,” Rose laughed lightly at Arthur’s reaction. “You’re so defensive,” she stated as she rolled over.

            “My stories aren’t cute,” Arthur grumbled crossly as he slowly lay back down.

            “Goodnight, Arthur,” Rose murmured as she fought back a yawn. She had already started to feel sleep tug back at her and she was out before she could even hear Arthur’s response if he was still awake.

 

            “You’re gonna want to stay here, kid,” Vanessa advised Rose as she slung her gun back over her shoulder.

            “I can help. They’re Enclave. If anyone knows them best, it’s me. Please, Vanessa!” Rose exclaimed. She didn’t really know how she could help, but she had to know if any other kids had made it out of Raven Rock.

            “Elder Lyons speaks for you now, and he told me not to bring you. I’ve already asked Fawkes to follow me, and I also got Dogmeat. Sorry kid, but I have a full house,” Vanessa apologized as she cast a quick glance at the troubled child. “Hey, chin up. You’ve already experienced the worst parts of your life, it only gets better from here on out,” she said as she knelt down in order to directly look her in the face.

            “Please find them,” Rose gasped out, her voice shook slightly.

            “Find who?” Vanessa asked as she rose back up.

            “The other kids like me,” Rose replied as she stared down at her feet before she turned her bright gaze back up towards Vanessa. _I can at least tell her about the kids without explaining what all happened with me._

            “What do you mean? Other kids like you?” Vanessa questioned as she crossed her arms across her chest. Despite all of their attempts to gather information about why they had a child locked up in Raven Rock, Rose had ignored them and tried to change the subject.

            “They had kids that were in a special group. We would go in, find new towns and kill everyone. Nobody suspected a thing when it was just unarmed children,” Rose explained as she resisted the urge to cry and puke. It pained her that she had killed so many just so she could have lived for another day. _And it was all for them._

            “Of course, they had children warriors,” Vanessa breathed out before she nodded in Rose’s direction. “I’ll look for them so long as you stay here,” she decided.

            “Promise?” Rose asked as she held out her pinky. She vaguely remembered doing this childish act with the other children back at Little Lamplight before her hell years in the Enclave.

            Vanessa fought back a smirk as she wrapped her larger pinky around Rose’s smaller pinky, “Promise,” she assured the young girl.

            “Thank you,” Rose said as she forced a smile, “It means a lot,” she admitted.

            “Well, I have to get going; I have to meet a patrol up north somewhere. Stay out of trouble and promise me not to do drugs besides stimpaks!” Vanessa yelled over her shoulder as she walked out of the room, she then turned into a full sprint after she had finished talking to Rose. As she left, Rose could barely make out: “Are stimpaks even drugs?!”

            The young girl could only watch as one of the few people in the Brotherhood of Steel that she liked and trusted walked out of her life for what would be a long time.

 

            “Why are we going out here?” Arthur asked Rose for the fifth time as he followed her out into the bailey. _Leave it to Arthur for worrying about getting caught out late with a girl._ She smirked slightly at her own thought as she continued to her destination. Lili.

            “You didn’t have to come,” Rose told Arthur as she sat down in front of Lili.

            “Who else besides me would be able to talk Elder Lyons from punishing you?” Arthur asked as he sat down beside Rose.

            “Admit it, you just wanted to keep me company,” Rose teased as she playfully nudged Arthur with her shoulder.

            Arthur immediately flushed red, “Th-that’s not true!” he quickly shot back as he scrambled to hide his blush. With a soft _hmph_ , he turned away from her.

            Rose stifled a giggle as she turned her attention towards her friend Lili, “Hey, girl. I wanted to tell you something big,” she began as she slowly shifted from sitting on the ground with her legs crossed to sitting on her knees. Lili gave a harsh purr-like sound as she approached Rose, and quickly pushed her nose into her friend’s stomach, which had caused the much weaker human girl to stumble backward on accident. A faint _oomph_ escaped her lips as she met the ground with a soft thud.

            “I think we should go!” Arthur hissed as he scooted back a couple of inches before and he jumped back up to his feet.

            “No, no, that’s just how she is! Honest!” Rose exclaimed as she jumped up to her feet as well.

            Arthur relaxed slightly but still kept a close eye on the chained up Lili, “Just tell her what you need to so we can go,” he grumbled as he crossed his arms across his chest.

            “I didn’t ask you to follow me,” Rose shot back before she stepped closer towards Lili. “They agreed to let you work alongside me when I become a scribe! I didn’t think you’d be comfortable being around strangers,” she explained as she held onto her friend’s arm. She let out a soft sigh before she rested her head against Lili’s arm and closed her eyes for a second.

            Arthur shifted his weight from side to side as he watched Rose wrapped around her monstrous friend. He wanted to go to bed now, but he didn’t want to leave her behind, especially when she would be unguarded with that beast. “Rose, are you done?” he finally asked as he felt sleep start to take over him.

            “Hmm?” Rose asked as she took a step back from Lili and turned around to face him. “Oh, yeah… I guess I am. Sorry, Arthur,” she apologized as she gave a nervous laugh. “Night Lili!” she called to her friend as she followed the younger squire back to their shared room.

            Once the two were settled back in their beds, Arthur rolled over so he could talk to Rose, “Hey, what did you mean about Lili working with you when you become a scribe?” he asked.

            “Vanessa managed to persuade Elder Lyons to allow Lili to have more freedom when I’m older, so long as I can prove I can reprimand her if the time comes,” Rose explained after she rolled over to face him.

            “Will you be able to?” Arthur asked as he yawned.

            “I don’t know,” Rose said. “It’s getting late and we have training in the morning. Night, Arthur,” she said and then yawned as she rolled over to go to sleep.

            “Night,” Arthur managed to say before he finally succumbed to sleep too.


	9. Chapter Eight: Brotherhood (2279-2281)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools."  
> \- Martin Luther King, Jr.

            “Are you all set, Scribe Lancaster?” Arthur asked her as she sat down the last book she could find in the abandoned building.

            “You know I hate it when you act formally around me, _Artie_ ,” she chuckled as she quickly flipped through the faded book. _This must have been a prewar childcare of some sorts. It’s filled with nothing but children’s books and nursery rhymes._

            “Paladin Danse,” Arthur nodded to their superior as he walked into the room they were currently searching.

            “Knight Maxson,” Danse said with a small nod as he acknowledged him before he turned toward Rose, “Are you all set Scribe Lancaster?” he asked.

            “Yeah, this place has nothing of importance for us, maybe for a nanny, but definitely not anything the Brotherhood would find useful,” she gave a disappointed sigh as she ran her fingers over the last book she had checked. The only words she could make out were ‘child’ and ‘care’ which led her to assume it was like all of the others, another nursery book.

            “That’s alright, we’ll head back now then,” he declared as he flipped on his power armor helmet. Rose gave a glance towards Arthur. He was only 12 years old and was already made a Knight; none of the power armors fit him properly so he was still stuck in his initiate armor until he grew a bit taller – something he was a bit upset about and hated when it was mentioned.

            “What is it?” Arthur asked as the pair followed Paladin Danse and the other Knights out of the abandoned building.

            Rose shook her head, which caused a wave of scarlet hair to sway side to side. _Was I staring?_ “S’all good,” she tossed a lopsided grin in his direction. “We’ll talk more in your room later tonight,” she decided as she pranced out of his reach.

            Throughout the two years, the two had formed a close bond, mostly due to two factors: they were the only people in their age group in the Brotherhood at the time and she was an outsider to the Brotherhood – the name Maxson had no special meaning to her like the others. To her, Knight Arthur Maxson was just that, he wasn’t a legacy child or however the others perceived him as. In an ironic sense, her ordinary treatment toward him was special in ways that the vast majority of the Brotherhood had never given him.

            In those two years, she had seen Cade on and off again for her mental health before he finally pulled her out for a year. Today was her first time out on the field for the Brotherhood. Paladin Danse would have to discuss how she performed with Cade and then he would have to interview her again for the umpteenth time. She might get her results back in the next six to eight weeks. It wasn’t that they usually took a while to evaluate their members; they just wanted them to be at their peak health.

 

            “How do you think I did today?” Rose asked as she sat down on Arthur’s bed and pulled her legs up toward her body and wrapped her arms around them.

            “I’ve seen worse,” Arthur teased before he plopped down on his bed beside her.

            “Not everyone can kill a group of fireants on their first time on the field,” she said in the same note Arthur’s had held as she pushed his shoulder lightly. She remembered how proud he had been when he came back to the Citadel. She also remembered how annoying it got after he told the story how he, Squire Arthur Maxson, killed six fireants all by himself. She wanted to desperately smack him once the tenth telling of the story came around.

            “I’m sure if you had a nuka-grenade or two, you could kill one too,” he grinned playfully, but he quickly turned serious as he stared at her. “I need to tell you something,” he began as he eyed her up and down as if he were able to measure her trustworthiness based on her appearance, and not on years of friendship.

            Rose rolled her eyes. _Idiot, you’d think he’d know he can trust me by now._ “You passed the proper time for a dramatic pause, now you’re just purposefully trying to get me to beg,” she noted, which only earned her a nodded in her direction from him.

            “S-sorry,” he stammered and then rubbed his hands together, “IkissedSarahandshe-”

            “Wait, hold up what was that?” she blinked. Did she hear correctly? And why was her stomach churning like she was going to be sick? And why was her heart beating so hard? Was she – _No. Roselyn Lancaster does_ not _get jealous._

            “I kissed Sarah,” he said, he looked physically calm, but his voice wavered a bit and she knew right then and there he had been rejected.

            “What happened? Are you alright?” she immediately responded with, but she couldn’t ignore that nagging feeling she had in her gut. _Jealous, jealous, jealous. Rose is jealous._ The little voice in the back of her head sang.

            “She said when I’m older she’d consider it,” he stated emotionlessly. Now that she thought about it, he had been acting a bit down during their expedition out to find more prewar technologies. She had been so worked up over the whole thing that she didn’t even realize the state of her friend. _Paladin Danse must have, that’s probably why he was assigned to stand guard by me at all times rather than help clear out the building with the others. I thought it was because he was younger than everyone else…_

            “But are you okay?” she asked as she put a heavy emphasis on her words and looked him directly in the eye when she spoke. She had to make sure her friend was alright. Rejection stung, but it wasn’t like she was going on from experience, just from all the books she had read in her spare time. Unlike the other Scribes, she loved collecting and reading any type of book, with her favorite genre being fantasy.

            “It wasn’t a no,” Arthur replied nonchalantly, a blush appeared across his cheeks, which he attempted to hide by laying down on his stomach.

            “But it wasn’t a yes,” Rose pointed out as she followed his suit and laid down also. Before her friend could grumble out a response, she turned to him, “Did you get an estimation for how long you’d have to wait for her?” she asked. Physically she was calm and collected, on the inside, she was breaking down and screaming at herself for encouraging him to seek after Sarah.

            “I’m going to bed,” Arthur quickly said as he pushed Rose away from him just hard enough for her to get the idea that he wanted to be alone right now.

            “Well… Alright, but if you’re up to talking about it more, I’m right across the hall,” she said as she patted his shoulder sympathetically before she left his room and headed for her own room. _Poor Arthur, he seems pretty down now._

 

            “Stop joking,” Rose gasped as she took a step back. “That’s not-” she choked back a sob, “He was perfectly fine last night! He can’t be gone! He can’t!” she exclaimed, on the verge of screaming.

            “Rose,” Arthur said as he embraced her in his arms. “I know how you feel, but please, keep your voice down. It’s not just you who is in pain. Listen,” he whispered the last part.

            Rose whimpered but obeyed his order. _The Citadel does sound empty today._ _Wait…_ Her eyes widened in shock. She could just hear the muffled cries of the other members of the Brotherhood softly echo throughout the building. “It’s just not fair,” she said shakily as she shrugged him off of her and wiped her eyes clean of all her tears.

            “He was a good man,” Arthur said as he collapsed on Rose’s bed and stared down at his hands.

            “We have had the honor of serving under his leadership,” Rose sighed as she sat next to him. “How’s Sarah handling it?” she asked as she rested her head on his shoulder.

            “How would you handle it if you lost a loved one?” Arthur asked back.

            “I’m not sure. Not good, that much I can tell you,” Rose admitted as she looked down at her hands. Despite all that she’s been through, she considered herself lucky to have not lost anyone she considered close… Well, up until now. She never knew her parents, but she had a good feeling that this was what it felt like to lose the father-like figure in your life.

            “I want to see him,” Rose said aloud in a hushed tone. She wasn’t sure why she was whispering; maybe it was because she didn’t trust her voice at her normal volume at the moment.

            “They’re having a ceremony later tonight for the higher ups before letting everyone see him…” Arthur began, “I can see about getting you in,” he said as he glanced over at Rose.

            “Please, if you can. It would mean so much,” Rose said as she turned to face him and clutched his shoulder tightly. She looked into his eyes and relief flooded over her when she saw that he was hurting just as much as she was.

            Arthur coughed into his elbow as he stood back up, “I can’t say for sure, but it appears Sentinel Lyons will become the next Elder,” he told Rose.

            Rose smiled softly, “Well, I can tell you for certain that she will be.”

 

            “Vanessa?” Rose asked as she slipped through the broken door, she had just snuck away from her squad. “Vanessa?” she called out again. This was the location that Vanessa had asked for her to meet her in and it wasn’t usual for the wanderer to be late like this.

            “I’m here, kid,” Vanessa choked out as she stood up from the prewar chair she had been sitting on and pressed a button on her pipboy, which caused a green light to illuminate the area around them.

            “What did you want to meet with me about? Couldn’t we have done this in the Citadel?” Rose asked as she cautiously stepped closer towards her old friend.

            “There’s been talk on the West Coast Brotherhood. They want that other kid, Maxson, to be the new Elder for this branch or whatever. I don’t really know much about how you all operate, just what you do,” Vanessa mumbled as she unstrapped the pipboy from her wrist. “Look over the documents I’ve found and then meet me here same time next month,” she said as she placed the pipboy on the table and then left the building.

            “W-wait!” Rose exclaimed as she chased after Vanessa, but instead came face to face with her squad.

            “Everything okay Scribe Lancaster?” one of the knights asked as he shined his light from her face to the ground. “Thought we lost you,” he admitted.

            “Y-yeah,” Rose stammered, “I just need to grab something,” she said before she raced back into the room. First, she grabbed Vanessa’s pipboy and then she grabbed a few books that looked semi-important off of the old bookshelf. Before she stepped into the view of her squad, she shoved the pipboy in her bag. “I thought this house might have something important in it,” she explained as she held up her books, “I think I was right, but we’ll see what the other scribes think when we get back to the Citadel.” With Rose back with her squad, they continued on toward the Citadel.

 

            “What’s going on?” Rose asked an initiate that had raced into her room. She was in the middle of putting away her items she had collected from her previous mission

            “It’s Sentinel Lyons!” the initiate exclaimed as she continued her mission down the halls without further explaining what had happened to Sentinel Lyons. _Arthur should know what happened._ She decided and knocked on his door.

            It took a minute, but the door finally opened up to reveal a broken Arthur with puffy red eyes. At that second, it finally dawned on her why the Citadel had been in such a buzz when they came back. Sentinel Lyons was most likely dead or injured, and this was perhaps the only time she had hoped that the new leader was just injured.

            “She’s dead,” Arthur croaked as he finally looked up at her from his place on his bed and she immediately sat down on the bed beside Arthur. Guilt enveloped Rose as she remembered all the times that she had wished for Elder Sarah Lyons to be dead just because she had been jealous that Arthur liked her more. _I didn’t really want her dead._

            “Who killed her?” Rose finally asked. She did and didn’t want to know what had happened. A part of her had to know that she wasn’t ambushed. All she could think about was the documents that Vanessa wanted her to read.

            “You mean ‘what.’ She was killed by super mutants on her way back from a patrol,” Arthur spat the words out with such malice that it made Rose both snap her eyes back towards her broken friend and take a couple steps back in shock.

            “Will there be a-”

            “Please, just get out,” Arthur interrupted as he pointed at the door. “Just go.”

            Rose felt a lump swell up in her throat that prevented her from at least attempting to give her condolences, so instead, she gave him a small nod and rushed out of his room. She wanted to be there for her friend, but a part of her also understood that he needed time to mourn alone before they could all grieve together for their fallen friend.

 

            It had been exactly one month since Rose had met up with Vanessa and exactly one month since Elder Sarah Lyons death. As she had expected, Star Paladin Cross was officially made into Elder Cross. Already, she could see the shift of change in power. No longer was the Brotherhood for the people of the Capital Wasteland, and it made her feel uneasy. _That’s not the Brotherhood I joined up with._

            At the moment, Rose had been following Arthur Maxson. For the past week repeatedly snuck off to who the hell knows where and she was determined to figure out where. She was certain that others had caught on; they just had no true desire to tail him or didn’t want to be the one to bring a Maxson in for disobedience.

            Rose lasted up until Arthur was halfway to Megaton. She had witnessed Arthur fight off a horde of fireants and it had taken everything in her to not assist him, but now he was injured. She couldn’t see the full extent of his wounds, but she could tell from her hiding spot that it brought him intense pain with every step he took. She inhaled sharply and braced herself for his anger that she would receive once she revealed herself.

            “Arthur. Stop, you’re injured,” Rose ordered him as she stood up.

            Arthur spun around and stared at Rose with wide eyes, and then his face contorted into the anger she had prepared herself for, “You have no right to follow me!” he yelled once he got over the shock of coming face to face with her.

            Rose put her hands up and nodded, “You’re right, I know. I had no right whatsoever to make sure my friend was okay.” She approached him slowly, “I just need to check out your wounds, or at least let me bandage it up for you,” she offered. Because she had been frequently visiting Cade, he had helped taught her how to patch people up – and also because he was in desperate need of an organic assistant that wasn’t a Mr. Handy.

            Arthur sighed but nodded, “I saw a house in that direction,” he pointed southwest, “It wasn’t too far back. We could go there and take a small break.”

            The walk to the old, abandoned house was silent, save for their footsteps and breathing. The silence felt heavy to Rose, and she felt as if she had to speak. “Where were you going?” she asked and broke the overwhelming silence.

            “I had to see it. I had to see the scene for myself,” Arthur explained quickly.

            “I’ll go with you. You shouldn’t have to do that alone,” Rose said sympathetically as she lightly touched his shoulder for a brief moment. Instead of giving a verbal response, he nodded and then walked up the steps to the old house. “It amazes me that so many of these buildings still remain standing. Perhaps we have much we still need to learn from our ancestors,” Rose said in awe that the building was still standing. Arthur grunted something in response before he cracked open the door.

            “There, your burns are cleaned up as best as I could do for now, but after we go to Sarah Lyons grave we need to get you straight to the clinic,” Rose said after she finished bandaging Arthur’s wounds.

            “Is there anything to drink in here?” Arthur asked as he looked down at Rose who had been crouched down on her knees to better care for his wounds.

            “Well, I’m not sure if we’ll get lucky in the water department, but maybe there’s some alcohol…” Rose mused mostly to herself as she stood up from her spot on the floor. During her time out in the wasteland, the main thing she noticed was the abundance of alcoholic drinks and the scarcity of water, purified or not.

            “It doesn’t matter, anything would do,” Arthur said gruffly and she gave a nod before she headed into the kitchen.

            The obvious place would be the fridge, although she doubted she could pull a cold one out of there, but she knew that she would most likely find something. “I found… Vodka!” Rose exclaimed and slammed the fridge shut. “That okay?” she asked Arthur as she walked back into the living room. “I hope so because that was all that was in the fridge…” she muttered quietly to herself.

            “That’s perfect,” Arthur practically purred and his eyes lit up slightly. She sat the drink on the coffee table in front of him and returned to the kitchen to find two cups that weren’t damaged to the point no one could drink out of them. He watched her as she came back into the living room and poured them both a small glass.

            “Sorry, these were the only cups that weren’t broken. Awfully tiny, though, we’re probably better off with just drinking from the bottle…” She joked as she studied the cup.

            “They’re called shot glasses,” Arthur said as he picked up his cup and downed it in one sip. “They’re meant to be small.”

            “For someone who drinks alcohol a lot, you honestly can’t hold it,” Rose teased as she tossed a smirk in Arthur’s direction. It had only been his third one and he already looked like shit. She giggled to herself as she watched his whole attitude change in just minutes, she had yet to take a sip. She had never had alcohol before and was afraid of who she would become under its influence, she’d seen many good men and women turn violent from too much alcohol consumption and didn’t want to have to add her name to that list.

            Arthur’s cheeks flushed a light red before he narrowed his eyes at Rose, “And you can?” he retorted defensively as he poured himself another glass of vodka.

            “I don’t know, I guess we’ll just have to see, won’t we?” Rose asked with a wink and took her first sip.

 

            Rose’s pale eyes fluttered open, her surroundings were unfamiliar to her and a part of her wanted to ask ‘where am I?’ but then she heard the soft snore and felt muscular arms wrap around her and pull her closer to his naked body. She had to bite back a scream and it took everything in her to roll over to face the person she was sharing a bed with. _Oh shit! Shit, shit, shit! You seriously fucked up now!_ She thought as she stared at a sleeping Arthur.

            Immediately Rose began to carefully work her way out of the bed, which proved to be a struggle from the start. She didn’t want to wake him and most importantly didn’t want to touch any part of his naked body. _Oh god, I can’t believe we were naked in the same bed! What the hell did we do last night?_

            As soon as Rose was free from both the bed and his grip, she quickly collected her uniform and put it back on her in a mad rush. _I need to get out of here,_ was the only thing that raced through her mind. As soon as she slipped her backpack on, she heard the bed squeaking and moving coming from the bedroom, and then, “Rose?”

            Rose felt her heart skip a beat as she quietly slipped out of the prewar house and instantly bolted for the house she was supposed to meet Vanessa in last night. If she was lucky, Vanessa stayed overnight and was still waiting for her. _And if you’re not lucky and she decided to leave?_ She shook her head; she didn’t have the time to think of ‘what ifs,’ she had to make it to the house north of Megaton.

            When Rose had made it to the house she was to meet Vanessa in, she didn’t have to open the door. Vanessa stood in the doorway of the house in front of her with an arched eyebrow, “And here I thought you ran off with my pipboy,” she joked as she opened the door wider for her to come in. “Don’t just stand there, come in, come in,” Vanessa urged her as she beckoned her further inside the dark house.

            “S-sorry I’m so late, I got a bit distracted last night,” Rose admitted sheepishly as she followed Vanessa into the house. Her mind drifted off to the possible things she could have done, despite a large part of her not wanting to know and to just live in blissful ignorance.

            “No kidding. You smell like sex,” Vanessa said as she sat down on the couch. “Who was it? Arthur? It better be Arthur, he’s the only age appropriate guy over there for you,” she said as she stared at Rose intently, eager to know who she slept with.

            Rose swallowed nervously as she sat down, “We were drunk, he doesn’t love me. He loved Elder Sarah Lyons,” she confessed. _She’s lying, we wouldn’t have had sex. But, then again, we were drunk and we did wake up naked in the same bed…_

            Vanessa leaned back in her couch and crossed her arms, “Is that what you think or is that what you know?” she asked after she stared down Rose for a couple of seconds.

            “It’s what I know,” Rose decided after she thought about it for a second. It was just something she couldn’t put into words about how she knew.

            “How do you know?” Vanessa immediately shot back as she leaned forward slightly and rested her elbows on her knees.

            “I…” Rose wasn’t sure how she could explain it to her. _Gut feeling?_

            “How do you know?” Vanessa repeated but this time she put more emphasis on the words as she stared into her friend’s eyes.

            “I don’t know-”

            “Did he tell you specifically?” Vanessa interrupted.

            “No, he didn’t tell me,” Rose finally admitted after a brief moment of silence.

            “Okay, so after you give me back my pipboy, I want you to go to that boy and tell him how you feel. Don’t sugarcoat it, if you want to be just friends, you make it plain and clear, if you want to be more, you make that especially plain and clear. Guys can’t take a hint for some reason. Oh, but only after you tell Madison Li that two months is the earliest that I can do,” Vanessa said as she stood up.

            “Two months till what?” Rose asked as she started to dig through her pack for Vanessa’s pipboy, everything about Arthur slipped her mind.

            “She wants to get away from the Brotherhood. Said she’s had it with them or something like that,” Vanessa shrugged. “Madison had to help Cade and a few other doctors rip apart a ‘synth’ a few weeks ago and she’s been pissed to the max about that ever since. Said that he was an old friend of hers and they made her kill him,” she explained as if it were old news, but that was the first the Rose had ever heard about that.

            “W-what? You’re joking right?” Rose had heard about synths, she just wasn’t sure that they were actually real. Immediately, she thought of the Underground. She had been told that they weren’t going to bother it, but if they were willing to tear apart a synth for what – information? – then who’s to say that they would leave a ghoul sanctuary alone. “What about the Underground?” she asked.

            Vanessa smiled sadly, “Sorry, Rose, but that place was a massacre. I went by there just a month ago after I finished talking to you and that place… I’ve never seen anything as sick as that, and I’ve seen a lot of fucked up shit in my young life.”

            “In two months, when you and Madison leave… Lili and I are going with you. These people… They aren’t the same without Elder Lyons leadership,” Rose whimpered as she squeezed Vanessa’s pipboy, she had forgotten that she had been holding it.

            “I should never have taken you there… I should have taken you to Little Lamplight instead,” Vanessa murmured sadly. “I’m sorry if I had known what they were going to become, things may have been different,” she apologized.

            “No,” Rose winced at the name she hadn’t heard of in a long time. “I’m glad you didn’t take me there, I would have just gotten weak. I got the help I needed here, and now it’s time to move on,” she decided to not tell Vanessa that she was originally a Little Lamplighter. “Here’s your pipboy, I guess I better get going to Madison,” she said after a few moments of silence and placed the pipboy on the table.

            “Wait,” Vanessa stopped her from leaving. “Do you know how long it took me to gather all of that information? You can at least tell me what you think,” she huffed childishly as she crossed her arms across her chest.

            Rose thought for a second. The information in the pipboy did reveal what she had always suspected about the Brotherhood. That they were just as evil as the Enclave, perhaps even more power hungry than the Enclave. Granted, the Brotherhood of Steel was relatively good under Elder Owyn Lyon’s leadership, but that time has come and gone. “It was…” she sighed, “It helped confirm what I feared all along, which is why I have to leave.”

 

            As soon as Rose entered the Citadel, she was bombarded by Arthur who had been looking for her after she had fled the house earlier that morning that they had shared last night. She tried her best to ignore him. If she were to leave then she didn’t want to miss him, but once they were alone she finally cracked. “Do you remember what happened last night?” she asked, her voice wavered slightly.

            Arthur looked confused for a moment, “I only remember what happened that morning: me waking up naked in a bed and you were gone. Why did you leave? You need to tell me what happened last night!” his voice began to rise and was close to yelling at her as he started to lose his patience.

            Rose winced, she had only ever heard him yell during his training sessions with Paladin Gunny, but he had never personally yelled at her in such a manner. Usually, it was playful yelling, but she could see the raw anger beginning to form on his face and she genuinely felt scared. “Please,” she whimpered as she looked away from him, “I don’t know either. I woke up naked in a bed with you and got scared. I left as soon as I could,” she admitted before she burst into tears.

            Rose knew Arthur had said something, she could hear him speak, but she couldn’t make out the words, and then he had enveloped her in a tight hug. “We can work this out,” he finally said as she gave into his embrace.

 

            “We have about five minutes before the next shift starts,” Rose said to Madison as she unchained Lili. Despite being promised to be able to work alongside Lili when she was older, the Brotherhood had had her chained up like a savage beast since day one.

            “We should get moving then, we can save the reunions for on the road,” Madison said briskly as she brushed past Rose and towards the only exit out of the Citadel.

            “Come on, Lili, we’re leaving now,” Rose said softly as she helped guide her old friend in the direction Madison was headed. She gave a small glance behind her and felt her heart break a little. In the two months, it had been revealed that she was expecting, but the only one that knew was Cade, she couldn’t find it in her to tell Arthur if she wasn’t planning on staying.

            “Where did Vanessa want us to meet her at?” Madison asked once they passed an old entrance to a metro station. So far they had been lucky enough to not run across anything big, then again there weren’t too many raiders willing to fight two women when they had a deathclaw following them around.

            “Ever heard of Bigtown? The plan is to stay there overnight, pick up supplies, and gather our strength, and then carry on with their journey in the morning,” Rose explained.

            “And what do we do if the Brotherhood finds us?” Madison asked.

            “We run,” Rose simply offered. In all honesty, she hadn’t thought about what they would do if they were caught. She would probably be locked up. _It’s not like they would risk killing a future Maxson._ Madison would either be forced to continue serving the Brotherhood or shot, depending on how she acted, and Lili would most definitely be killed on sight. _They already saw her as a monster._

 

            “You guys took forever,” Vanessa commented as she pushed herself off of the wall she had been leaning up against. “So I figured we could use the extra help getting to the Commonwealth,” she began as Rose, Madison, and Lili came closer toward her.

            “That sounds good, I’m not that great of a shot anymore and it can’t be just you doing all the shots from here to there,” Rose said lightheartedly as she petted her deathclaw.

            “They’re pretty young, but they’re the best shots I’ve seen around here,” she paused briefly before adding very quietly, “also the only ones willing to come,” before she continued, “so I figured that they could come along,” Vanessa said excitedly and suddenly Rose realized she wasn’t sure why Vanessa wanted to leave the Capital Wasteland so badly.

            “Who are they?” Madison asked before Rose could ask Vanessa why she was so caught on leaving. _I’ll just ask her when we’re alone later tonight, or whenever I can get the chance to._

            “Mira and Mila, they’re about twelve. Mira! Mila! Come over here!” Vanessa called for the set of twins.

            “What?” Rose immediately asked out loud. Those were two names she didn’t expect to ever hear again, let alone from someone who didn’t truly understand what had happened in Raven Rock. “Mira and Mila are here?” she asked Vanessa.

            “Oh no, I’m just calling them for the hell of it.” Vanessa replied sarcastically before she smiled brightly at Rose, “Of course they’re here, they might be in the clinic still getting healing supplies for the trip,” She explained.

            “Which house is that?” Rose asked frantically. She had to know if it was them or not. _Please be them, if anyone deserved to live after Raven Rock it would be those two._

            “Last house on the right,” Vanessa replied confusedly and tossed Madison a worried look.

            Without wasting any more time, Rose bolted toward the clinic. She could feel her heart beat faster as a mixture of fear, apprehension, and excitement surged throughout her body. _Do they hate me? How did they survive Raven Rock?_ She shook her head to clear her head of her thoughts and opened the door to the clinic. “M-Mira? Mila?” she asked as soon as she saw the familiar set of pale blonde hair.

            “PV-11?” the one with the pigtails asked as she dropped her supplies. _Mila!_

            The girl with the long, straight hair stared at Rose with an arched brow, “We thought you were killed by the Enclave long before it blew up,” she simply said after she gave her a good look over. _Definitely Mira._

            “It’s so good to see you again, PV-11! I told my sister here that we should never assume the worst with you!” Mila squealed, oblivious to the fact that Rose had winced each time she addressed her as PV-11.

            “So what do we call you now? Sorry, Mila is too blind to people’s expression,” Mira said bluntly with little to no emotion as she stared blankly at Rose.

            “People call me Rose nowadays,” She smiled lightly at Mira, grateful for her perceptive eye.

            “Lucky you for remembering your name before Raven Rock,” Mira muttered angrily as she marched past Rose.

            “Are you going on Vanessa’s expedition too?” Mila asked as she bent down and picked up her supplies that she had dropped. “It would be so lovely to have you with us! My sister might not admit it, but she did miss you after you disappeared in Raven Rock,” she confessed.

_They must not know…_ Rose realized and she decided that it was best to not tell her and Mira the truth about why she had disappeared from the other children in Raven Rock. “Yes, I’m going with you all to the Commonwealth,” she couldn’t help but grin.

            “Great!” Mila exclaimed excitedly, “Well, I’m going to go check on Mira,” she said after she finished placing the supplies in her pack.

            “I’ll come with you,” Rose said as she held the door open for Mila.

 

            “Vanessa?” Rose called out in the dark room that they were all currently sleeping in. She knew she was still up, she could see Vanessa as she fiddled around on her pipboy.

            “What’s up?” Vanessa asked as she looked up from her pipboy and stared off into the general area that Rose was in.

            “Why do you want to leave here so badly?” Rosa asked as she turned so she was on her side. She was curious as to why her friend seemed to be in such a rush to leave the only place she ever knew.

            “Let’s just say all the things that I did back then are all catching up with me now,” Vanessa said as she gave a nervous laugh.

            Rose narrowed her eyes slightly, she had only ever heard positive things about her and many people, including Three-Dog himself, considered Vanessa a saint. “But you’ve only done good? How can that cause you to leave?” she questioned.

            “I’ve angered a lot of bad people here and they all want me dead. It’s just best I leave here and fast,” she explained as she yawned. “Now, was that all? I’m starting to get really sleepy.”

_I guess I should go ahead and tell her now._ “Is it okay if I’m…” Rose swallowed nervously, she had to tell Vanessa, eventually, she would know and there would be no getting around it.

            “Well?” Vanessa asked impatiently, and, in the green light of the pipboy, she could see her arch an eyebrow up at her.

            “I’m pregnant,” Rose finally confessed to Vanessa and to any of the others who might still be awake.

            “Hopefully you’ll be in a nice settlement before you give birth,” Vanessa hummed after the shock had passed, and Rose could tell she was smiling. “Now get some sleep, you’re sleeping for two now. No, wait, shit it’s eating for two. Please ignore me, I’m extremely tired,” Vanessa laughed lightly before she turned her pipboy light off.

            Rose sighed and leaned back against her pillow, a part of her just couldn’t believe she was out away from the Citadel. Everything about this felt surreal to her. Before she drifted off to sleep she placed a hand over her stomach. _I won’t let my child be raised by the Brotherhood. My child will make their own destiny,_ she decided before she finally succumbed to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This concludes part one, part two should be up in a month or so (but knowing me It'll be like two months) and I'm aiming for it to be only four chapters long. If you enjoyed this please like and/or leave a comment! If you have any type of advice or caught any errors, please let me know! It would be very appreciated! But, most importantly, I hope you enjoyed my first completed fic on ao3!(:  
> If you liked this or just really like my writing style please check out my Tumblr: https://yourchimerawrites.tumblr.com/  
> It focuses mostly on fallout, elder scrolls, transformers, and tmnt!

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism is appreciated, I'm always looking to improve my works(:


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